And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign,.... Of Zedekiah's reign:
in the tenth month, in the tenth [day] of the month; the month Tebet, which answers to part of December and part of January; hence the fast of the tenth month, on account of the siege of Jerusalem, Zechariah 8:19;
[that] Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his army,
against Jerusalem; from whence it appears that he came in person with his army at first to Jerusalem; but, during the siege, or some part of it, retired to Riblah; perhaps upon the news of the king of Egypt's coming to the assistance of the Jews:
and pitched against it; or encamped against it:
and built forts against it round about; wooden towers, as Jarchi and Kimchi explain it; from whence they could shoot their arrows and cast their stones.