But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king,.... Not finding him in his palace, and being informed of his flight, and which way he took:
and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho:
and all his army was scattered from him; when they saw the enemy pursuing them, and near unto them, they left him, as Josephus q says, and shifted for themselves.
q Ibid. (Antiqu. l. 10. c. 8. sect. 2. Ed. Hudson.)