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2 Chronicles 36 · a question people ask

2 Chronicles calls Zedekiah Jehoiachin's brother. Doesn't 2 Kings call him Jehoiachin's father's brother?

In the text

2 Chronicles says Nebuchadnezzar "made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem" (36:10). 2 Kings says, "The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s father’s brother, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah" (2 Kings 24:17). The book of Jeremiah calls him "Zedekiah the son of Josiah" (Jeremiah 37:1). 1 Chronicles lists "The sons of Josiah: the firstborn Johanan, the second Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, and the fourth Shallum" (1 Chronicles 3:15), and then "The sons of Jehoiakim: Jeconiah his son, and Zedekiah his son" (1 Chronicles 3:16). The books word it differently, and none of them explains how the verses fit together. These notes set them side by side and don't try to.

The verses

“At the return of the year, King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, with the valuable vessels of the LORD’s house, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.”
2 Chronicles 36:10 · World English Bible
“The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s father’s brother, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.”
2 Kings 24:17 · World English Bible
“Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned as king instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.”
Jeremiah 37:1 · World English Bible
“The sons of Josiah: the firstborn Johanan, the second Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, and the fourth Shallum. The sons of Jehoiakim: Jeconiah his son, and Zedekiah his son.”
1 Chronicles 3:15-16 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 2 Chronicles 36

2 Chronicles 36: Let him go up

2 Chronicles gives its own reason for the fall: the LORD sent messengers "because he had compassion on his people" (36:15), and they mocked them "until there was no remedy" (36:16). The same Hebrew verb says the Chaldean king "had no compassion" (36:17). And the book doesn't end in the ashes: its last words are "let him go up" (36:23).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions