Jehoiachin

Jehoiachin was king of Judah for three months and spent thirty-seven years as a prisoner in Babylon. Born around 615 BC, he came to the throne at eighteen — or eight, depending on which of the two biblical accounts is followed — in December 597 BC, on the death of his father Jehoiakim. He inherited a rebellion he had not started. Jehoiakim had been a Babylonian vassal and had withheld tribute, and Nebuchadnezzar's army was already on the road when he died. Jerusalem was besieged within weeks. Jehoiachin surrendered the city rather than let it be stormed, and the Babylonian Chronicle records the capture of the city of Judah on the second day of the month Adar in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar — one of the rare cases where a biblical event can be dated precisely from an external tablet. He was deported with his mother, his household, the court, the craftsmen and the smiths — some eight or ten thousand people, the administrative and technical class of the kingdom. The Temple treasury went with them. His uncle Zedekiah was installed in his place, rebelled in turn, and brought the destruction of the city in 587 BC. Ration tablets excavated at Babylon list oil and barley issued to Yaukin, king of the land of Yahudu, and to his five sons, which confirms both his survival and his continued royal title. He was released from prison by Nebuchadnezzar's successor Amel-Marduk in 562 BC and given a seat at the king's table. His grandson Zerubbabel led the return.

• Lived: 616 BCE – 560 BCE
• Nationality: Jewish
• Roles: ruler