Holding Out in Jerusalem

Striding lion, from the Ishtar Gate in Babylon, dating from the time of Nebuchadnezzar II

December 17 589 BCE – 10 Tevet 3173

Nebuhadnezzar’s army laid seige to Jerusalem after Zedekiah, the king he had appointed nine years earlier to replace his rebellious brother Joahaz, stopped paying tribute and joined forces with Egypt to throw off the Babylonian yoke. The city held out for two and a half years before Nebuhadnezzar’s forces breached the walls in the summer of 586 BCE.