# Jehoiachin surrenders and is taken to Babylon

Divided Kingdom · Draft · BSB

Content revision: 35d02c99a23fb873 · No editorial review date recorded

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Date: Judah · Jehoiachin’s surrender · Commonly dated 597 BC

After a three-month reign, Jehoiachin surrenders to Nebuchadnezzar during the siege of Jerusalem. The king, his household, officials, soldiers and skilled workers are taken to Babylon, and temple and palace treasures are removed. Nebuchadnezzar installs Mattaniah, renaming him Zedekiah.

The deportation is commonly dated to 597 BC, an anchor also attested by the Babylonian Chronicle. Kings describes the removal of leading and skilled groups while poorer people remain. This is not yet the temple’s burning or Jerusalem’s final destruction in chapter 25, and it is not the removal of every resident of Judah.

## Primary Scripture

[2 Kings 24:8–17 (BSB)](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Kings%2024%3A8%E2%80%9317&version=BSB)

24:8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan; she was from Jerusalem.

24:9 And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, just as his father had done.

24:10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched up to Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.

24:11 And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it.

24:12 Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his servants, his commanders, and his officials all surrendered to the king of Babylon. So in the eighth year of his reign, the king of Babylon took him captive.

24:13 As the LORD had declared, Nebuchadnezzar also carried off all the treasures from the house of the LORD and the royal palace, and he cut into pieces all the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD.

24:14 He carried into exile all Jerusalem—all the commanders and mighty men of valor, all the craftsmen and metalsmiths—ten thousand captives in all. Only the poorest people of the land remained.

24:15 Nebuchadnezzar carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, as well as the king’s mother, his wives, his officials, and the leading men of the land. He took them into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

24:16 The king of Babylon also brought into exile to Babylon all seven thousand men of valor and a thousand craftsmen and metalsmiths—all strong and fit for battle.

24:17 Then the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah.

## Related Scripture

[Jeremiah 24:1–10 · prophecy](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%2024%3A1%E2%80%9310&version=BSB)

Jeremiah’s vision of the two baskets of figs is explicitly set after Jehoiachin and other captives have been taken away.

## Location evidence

Jerusalem and Babylon are identified. The map shows departure and destination without inventing the captives’ exact road or portraying a straight line across the desert as their route.

Event map marker: Identified site; \[longitude, latitude\] = \[35.234167, 31.776667\]. This is a teaching marker, not an exact event venue.

Jerusalem: Identified site. Coordinates \[longitude, latitude\]: \[35.234167, 31.776667\]. Classification source: editorial.

[OpenBible.info: Jerusalem (CC BY 4.0)](https://www.openbible.info/geo/ancient/a15257a/jerusalem)

Babylon: Identified site. Coordinates \[longitude, latitude\]: \[44.422222, 32.543333\]. Classification source: editorial.

[OpenBible.info: Babylon (CC BY 4.0)](https://www.openbible.info/geo/ancient/a217d18/babylon-1)

[British Museum: Babylonian Chronicle recording the first capture of Jerusalem (597 BC)](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/W_1896-0409-51)

## For the class

Why is it important to distinguish this deportation from the later destruction of Jerusalem?

## Interpretation and reuse

Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.

Record source: editorial (content/authored/divided-kingdom.json)

Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0.

Teaching stops, summaries and regional extents are original editorial content of this atlas.

Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm

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