Editing Nebuchadnezzar II (section)

=== Destruction of Jerusalem ===
{{Main|Siege of Jerusalem (587 BC)}}
[[File:Tissot The Chaldees Destroy the Brazen Sea.jpg|alt=Painting of the Babylonians looting Jerusalem|thumb|19th or 20th century painting by [[James Tissot]] depicting the Babylonian forces destroying [[Jerusalem]]]]
From his appointment as king of Judah, Zedekiah waited for the opportune moment to throw off Babylonian control. After Pharaoh Necho II's death in 595 BC, Egyptian intervention in affairs in the Levant increased once again under his successors, [[Psamtik II]] ({{Reign}}595–589 BC) and [[Apries]] ({{Reign}}589–570 BC), who both worked to encourage anti-Babylonian rebellions.{{Sfn|Beaulieu|2018|p=228}} It is possible that the Babylonian failure to invade Egypt in 601 BC helped inspire revolts against the Babylonian Empire.{{Sfn|Elayi|2018|p=192}} The outcome of these efforts was Zedekiah's open revolt against Nebuchadnezzar's authority.{{Sfn|Beaulieu|2018|p=228}} Unfortunately, no cuneiform sources are preserved from this time and the only known account of the fall of Judah is the biblical account.{{Sfn|Beaulieu|2018|p=228}}{{Sfn|Ephʿal|2003|p=183}}

[[File:The captivity of Judah.jpg|alt=Painting of the Babylonians destroying Jerusalem and leading captives away|thumb|The destruction of Jerusalem and the beginning of the [[Babylonian captivity]], as depicted in an early 20th-century [[Bible]] illustration]]
In 589 BC, Zedekiah refused to pay tribute to Nebuchadnezzar, and he was closely followed in this by [[Ithobaal III]], the king of Tyre.{{Sfn|Elayi|2018|p=195}} In 587 BC, Ammon, Edom and Moab likewise rebelled.<ref name="chap-iron">{{cite book |last=al-Nahar |first=Maysoun |title=Atlas of Jordan |date=11 June 2014 |publisher=Presses de l'Ifpo |isbn=9782351594384 |editor-last=Ababsa |editor-first=Myriam |series=Contemporain publications |pages=126–130 |chapter=The Iron Age and the Persian Period (1200–332 BC) |access-date=16 June 2018 |chapter-url=http://books.openedition.org/ifpo/5075 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617051103/http://books.openedition.org/ifpo/5075 |archive-date=17 June 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> In response to Zedekiah's uprising,{{Sfn|Beaulieu|2018|p=228}} Nebuchadnezzar conquered and destroyed the Kingdom of Judah in 586 BC,{{Sfn|Beaulieu|2018|p=228}}{{Sfn|Ephʿal|2003|p=183}} one of the great achievements of his reign.{{Sfn|Beaulieu|2018|p=228}}{{Sfn|Ephʿal|2003|p=183}} The campaign, which probably ended in the summer of 586 BC, resulted in the plunder and destruction of the city of Jerusalem, a permanent end to Judah, and it led to the [[Babylonian captivity]], as the Jews were captured and deported to Babylonia.{{Sfn|Beaulieu|2018|p=228}} Archaeological excavations confirm that Jerusalem and the surrounding area was destroyed and depopulated. It is possible that the intensity of the destruction carried out by Nebuchadnezzar at Jerusalem and elsewhere in the Levant was due to the implementation of something akin to a [[scorched earth]]-policy, aimed at stopping Egypt from gaining a foothold there.{{Sfn|Beaulieu|2018|p=229}}

Some Jewish administration was allowed to remain in the region under the governor [[Gedaliah]], governing from [[Mizpah in Benjamin|Mizpah]] under close Babylonian monitoring.{{Sfn|Beaulieu|2018|p=228}} According to the Bible, and the 1st-century AD Jewish historian [[Flavius Josephus]], Zedekiah attempted to flee after resisting the Babylonians, but was captured at [[Jericho]] and suffered a terrible fate. According to the narrative, Nebuchadnezzar wanted to make an example out of him given that Zedekiah was not an ordinary vassal, but a vassal directly appointed by Nebuchadnezzar. As such, Zedekiah was supposedly taken to [[Riblah]] in northern Syria, where he had to watch his sons being executed before having his eyes gouged out and sent to be imprisoned in Babylon.{{Sfn|Elayi|2018|p=196}}

Per the Books of Kings in the Bible, the campaign against Judah was longer than typical Mesopotamian wars, with the siege of Jerusalem lasting 18–30 months (depending on the calculation), rather than the typical length of less than a year. Whether the unusual length of the siege indicates that the Babylonian army was weak, unable to break into the city for more than a year, or that Nebuchadnezzar by this time had succeeded in stabilising his rule in Babylonia and could thus wage war patiently without being pressured by time to escalate the siege, is not certain.{{Sfn|Ephʿal|2003|p=183}}