Bible Strands
2 Chronicles 36:12
And he did evil in the sight of the LORD his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke for the LORD.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The chronicler narrates to the reader about King Zedekiah during his eleven-year reign in Jerusalem, marking the period when he interacted with Jeremiah the prophet.
The words — נִכְנַע (nikh.Na') = he humbled himself; לֹא (lo') = not.
The thread — The text records this refusal in 2 Chronicles 36:12, which parallels the pattern in 2 Chronicles 33:23 where Amon also failed to humble himself before the LORD. The same historical moment appears in Jeremiah 37:2 and Jeremiah 38:14, which document Zedekiah’s reception of Jeremiah’s words and his subsequent refusal to obey.
Why it lands — The text states that Zedekiah committed evil and actively refused to humble himself before God and His prophet. It requires the reader to confront how deliberate resistance to divine instruction hardens the heart and severs the path to repentance.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord.
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 33:23 but he did not humble himself before the LORD as his father Manasseh had done; instead, Amon increased his guilt.
- Jeremiah 37:2 But he and his officers and the people of the land refused to obey the words that the LORD had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.
- Jeremiah 38:14 Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and received him at the third entrance to the house of the LORD. “I am going to ask you something,” said the king to Jeremiah. “Do not hide anything from me.”
- Exodus 10:3 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.
- 2 Chronicles 32:26 Then Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart—he and the people of Jerusalem—so that the wrath of the LORD did not come upon them during the days of Hezekiah.
- 2 Chronicles 33:12 And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers.
- 2 Chronicles 33:19 His prayer and how God received his plea, as well as all his sin and unfaithfulness, and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself, they are indeed written in the Records of the Seers.
- 2 Chronicles 35:22 Josiah, however, did not turn away from him; instead, in order to engage him in battle, he disguised himself. He did not listen to Neco’s words from the mouth of God, but went to fight him on the Plain of Megiddo.
- Jeremiah 21:1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malchijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah. They said,
- Jeremiah 27:12 And to Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke the same message: “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and live!