Verse Lens · Concise explanation
2 Kings 24:18 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 18. 18Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
This verse opens the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech: “Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in….” Its responsible meaning belongs to the complete movement “Zedekiah's rebellion closes the city toward catastrophe.”
Zedekiah is measured like Jehoiakim, with Hamutal named again
This verse is one part of that explanation in 2 Kings 24:18–20. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- 2 Kings 24:18–20
Read 2 Kings 24:18 with 24:18–20. The selected wording supplies one opening in the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech; the surrounding verses supply the causes, responses, and outcome summarized here: Zedekiah receives a negative evaluation, Jerusalem and Judah remain under anger, and he rebels against Babylon.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Within “Zedekiah's rebellion closes the city toward catastrophe,” 2 Kings 24:18 opens the thought unit and establishes its first action or speech through the wording “Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in….” Its placement is governed by this reviewed relationship: 2 Kings 24:8–17 establishes this prior movement: Jehoiachin rules three months, Babylon besieges Jerusalem, he surrenders with the royal household, treasures and skilled people are deported, and Mattaniah is renamed Zedekiah. 2 Kings 24:18–20 responds to the pressure, need, word, or action already established; that evidenced relationship, rather than database adjacency alone, explains its placement.
Read 2 Kings 24:18–20 together
Why these verses belong together: 2 Kings 24:18–20 forms one scene or regnal notice: Zedekiah receives a negative evaluation, Jerusalem and Judah remain under anger, and he rebels against Babylon.
Verse 18. 18 Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
Verse 19. 19 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
Verse 20. 20 For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
What Remains True
Theological interpretation never makes imperial domination morally clean or turns displaced and subjected people into scenery for a ruler's story. This unit tests that truth through the narrated movement: Zedekiah receives a negative evaluation, Jerusalem and Judah remain under anger, and he rebels against Babylon. In 2 Kings 24:18, the concrete line “Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in…” keeps that truth accountable to narrated evidence.
Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read 2 Kings 24:18–20 — Zedekiah's rebellion closes the city toward catastropheSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: 2 Kings 24:18–20, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: 2 Kings
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, royal formulas, clause relationships, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/2Kgs.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 24:18–20
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: 2 Kings with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: A unit-bounded translation comparison plus only the lexical, grammatical, textual, historical, or older-English notes actually printed for these verses; silence is not treated as evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible 2 Kings PDF, printed pp. 665–666, translation and translator notes for 24:18–20
Open source ↗