And they slew... — The verbs are all singular in Jeremiah 39:6; Jeremiah 52:10-11; so that the acts in question are attributed directly to Nebuchadnezzar, to whose orders they were due. (So the versions, except that the Targum has “they slew.”) The blinding of Zedekiah need not have been done by the conqueror himself, although in the Assyrian sculptures kings are actually represented as blinding and otherwise torturing their captives. It is no argument against the singular, “he carried him to Babylon,” to say with Thenius that Zedekiah was sent to Babylon at once, while Nebuchadnezzar remained at Riblah. “Qui facit per alium, facit per se.”
The sons. — Who fled with him (Comp. Jeremiah 41:10). In Jeremiah it is added that all the nobles or princes. of Judah were slain also.
Put out the eyes. — A Babylonian punishment (Herod, vii. 18). This was the meaning of Ezekiel’s prediction; “I will bring him to Babylon... yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there” (Ezekiel 12:13).
With fetters of brass. — Literally, with the double brass (2 Chronicles 33:12); i.e., with manacles and fetters, as represented on the Assyrian monuments.
Carried him to Babylon. — Jeremiah 52:11; “and put him in prison till the day of his death.” So the Arabic of Kings.