Zedekiah may have changed his name, but he is powerless to change the times. It is under his leadership (24:18–25:12) that the kingdom of Judah reaches its end. For some reason, Zedekiah rebels (or “acts audaciously”) against the king of Babylon, in all likelihood by siding once more with Egypt (25:1−12). Whatever Zedekiah was hoping to achieve through such a rebellion did not happen, and Nebuchadnezzar’s retribution is fierce: Jerusalem becomes a city under siege, and the siege is a long one. Finally, the wall is breached (historians point to a date of 586 BC for this event), resulting in the worst day in the history of God’s people. Rather than surrender like Jehoiachin ten years earlier, Zedekiah and his sycophants flee, but they are duly overtaken, and the last thing Zedekiah ever sees…