Zedekiah Hears a Personal Oracle during Siege

While Babylon fights Jerusalem, Lachish, and Azekah, Zedekiah hears a personal word

The word came when Nebuchadnezzar and all his kingdom fought against Jerusalem and all the leftover cities of Judah, against Lachish and against Azekah: for those defenced cities remained. Go, speak to Zedekiah: I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

Thou shalt not escape; thou shalt surely be taken and delivered into his hand; thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon. The remaining forts date the oracle to the shrinking map of the siege. Siege remains atrocity, not a holy method.

A death in peace and royal burnings sit in tension with later blinding

Yet hear the word: Thou shalt not die by the sword: thou shalt die in peace; and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord. Compare this wording carefully with the capture, slaughter of sons, and blinding in chapter 39 and in Kings.

The oracle does not glorify captivity or guarantee a gentle outcome. Narrative fulfillment and wording differences need comparison, not forced harmony that erases either the promise or the later violence.