And the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes....  Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in chains and carried him to Babylon and put him in prison till the day of his death[560].

The majority of the Jews were deported to Babylonia, where they were employed as farm labourers.  Some rose to occupy important official positions.  A remnant escaped to Egypt with Jeremiah.

Jerusalem was plundered and desolated.  The Assyrians “burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem”, and “brake down all the walls of Jerusalem round about”.  Jeremiah lamented: 

How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!  She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks:  among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her:  all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies.  Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude:  she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest:  all her persecutors overtook her between the straits....  Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old....[561]

Tyre was besieged, but was not captured.  Its king, however, arranged terms of peace with Nebuchadrezzar.

Amel-Marduk, the “Evil Merodach” of the Bible, the next king of Babylon, reigned for a little over two years.  He released Jehoiachin from prison, and allowed him to live in the royal palace.[562] Berosus relates that Amel-Marduk lived a dissipated life, and was slain by his brother-in-law, Nergal-shar-utsur, who reigned two years (559-6 B.C.).  Labashi-Marduk, son of Nergal-shar-utsur, followed with a reign of nine months.  He was deposed by the priests.  Then a Babylonian prince named Nabu-na’id (Nabonidus) was set on the throne.  He was the last independent king of Babylonia.  His son Belshazzar appears to have acted as regent during the latter part of the reign.

Nabonidus engaged himself actively during his reign (556-540 B.C.) in restoring temples.  He entirely reconstructed the house of Shamash, the sun god, at Sippar, and, towards the end of his reign, the house of Sin, the moon god, at Haran.  The latter building had been destroyed by the Medes.

The religious innovations of Nabonidus made him exceedingly unpopular throughout Babylonia, for he carried away the gods of Ur, Erech, Larsa, and Eridu, and had them placed in E-sagila.  Merodach and his priests were displeased:  the prestige of the great god was threatened by the policy adopted by Nabonidus.  As an inscription composed after the fall of Babylon sets forth; Merodach “gazed over the surrounding lands ... looking for a righteous prince, one after his own heart, who should take his hands....  He called by name Cyrus.”