Who was the last king of Judah before the Babylonian exile?

Who was the last king of Judah before the Babylonian exile? Zedekiah was the last king of Judah before Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and exiled much of its population. He ruled from 597 to 586 BCE, although chronologies commonly vary by a year depending on calendar conventions.

Zedekiah was born Mattaniah and was a son of King Josiah. After Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II deposed Jehoiachin, he installed Mattaniah as Judah’s vassal king and renamed him Zedekiah. Judah remained under Babylonian control, but Zedekiah eventually rebelled, apparently relying on support from Egypt.

Nebuchadnezzar responded by besieging Jerusalem. After roughly two and a half years, the city fell, the Temple was destroyed, and Zedekiah fled but was captured near Jericho. According to the biblical account, he was forced to witness the execution of his sons, then blinded and taken in chains to Babylon.

Jehoiachin is sometimes confused with Zedekiah because he was Judah’s preceding king and continued to receive royal treatment in Babylon. However, Zedekiah was the final monarch to rule Judah from Jerusalem before the kingdom’s collapse.