Siege of Jerusalem ( 587 BC ) In 589 BC , Nebuchadnezzar II laid siege to Jerusalem , culminating in the destruction of the city and its temple in 587 BC . Siege . Following the siege of 597 BC , Nebuchadnezzar installed Zedekiah as tributary king of Judah at the age of twenty - one . However , Zedekiah revolted against Babylon , and entered into an alliance with Pharaoh Hophra , king of Egypt . Nebuchadnezzar responded by invading Judah and began a siege of Jerusalem in January 589 BC . During this siege , which lasted about thirty months , " every worst woe befell the city , which drank the cup of God ' s fury to the dregs " . In 587 BC , the eleventh year of Zedekiah ' s reign , Nebuchadnezzar broke through Jerusalem ' s walls , conquering the city . Zedekiah and his followers attempted to escape , but were captured on the plains of Jericho and taken to Riblah . There , after seeing his sons killed , Zedekiah was blinded , bound , and taken captive to Babylon , where he remained a prisoner until his death . After the fall of Jerusalem , the Babylonian general Nebuzaraddan was sent to complete its destruction . Jerusalem was plundered and Solomon ' s Temple was destroyed . Most of the elite were taken into captivity in Babylon . The city was razed to the ground . Only a small number of people were permitted to remain to tend to the land . Gedaliah was made governor of the remnant of Judah , the Yehud Province , with a Chaldea n guard stationed at Mizpah . On hearing this news , the Jews who were in Moab , Ammon , Edom , and in other countries returned to Judah . Gedaliah was assassinated two months later , and the population that had remained and those who had returned then fled to Egypt for safety . In Egypt , they settled in Migdol , Tahpanhes , Noph , and Pathros . Chronological notes . The Babylonian Chronicles , published in 1956 , indicate that Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem the first time putting an end to the reign of Jehoaichin on 2 Adar ( 16 March ) 597 BC . There has been some debate as to when the second siege of Jerusalem took place . Though there is no dispute that Jerusalem fell the second time in the summer month of Tammuz ( ) , William F . Albright dates the end of Zedekiah ' s reign ( and the fall of Jerusalem ) to 587 BC , whereas Edwin R . Thiele offers 586 BC . Thiele ' s reckoning is based on the presentation of Zedekiah ' s reign on an accession basis , which was used for most but not all of the kings of Judah . In that case , the year that Zedekiah came to the throne would be his " zero " th year ; his first full year would be 597 / 596 BC , and his eleventh year , the year Jerusalem fell , would be 587 / 586 BC . Since Judah ' s regnal years were counted from Tishri in autumn , this would place the end of his reign and the capture of Jerusalem in the summer of 586 BC . However , the Babylonian Chronicles support the enumeration of Zedekiah ' s reign on a non - accession basis . Zedekiah ' s first year when he was installed by Nebuchadnezzar was therefore in 598 / 597 BC according to Judah ' s Tishri - based calendar . The fall of Jerusalem in his eleventh year would then have been in the summer of 587 BC . The Babylonian Chronicles allow the fairly precise dating of the capture of Jehoiachin and the start of Zedekiah ' s reign , and also provide the accession year of Nebuchadnezzar ' s successor Amel - Marduk ( Evil Merodach ) as 562 / 561 BC , which was the 37th year of Jehoiachin ' s captivity according to 2 Kings 25 : 27 . These Babylonian records related to Jehoiachin ' s reign are consistent with the fall of the city in 587 BC .