Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Kings 25:7

"And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon." — 2 Kings 25:7 (ASV)

And they slew ... — The verbs are all singular in Jeremiah 39:6 and Jeremiah 52:10-11, so the acts in question are attributed directly to Nebuchadnezzar, to whose orders they were due. (The versions also use the singular, except that the Targum has “they slew.”) The blinding of Zedekiah need not have been done by the conqueror himself, although in 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. — These are the sons who fled with him . In Jeremiah, it is added that all the nobles or princes of Judah were also slain.

Put out the eyes. — This was a Babylonian punishment (Herodotus, 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 reads: and put him in prison till the day of his death. The Arabic version of Kings says the same.