Matthew Henry Commentary 2 Kings 25:1-7

"And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about. So the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. On the ninth day of the [fourth] month the famine was sore in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war [fled] by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king`s garden (now the Chaldeans were against the city round about); and [the king] went by the way of the Arabah. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. Then they took the king, and carried him up unto the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him. 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 25:1-7 (ASV)

Jerusalem was so fortified that it could not be taken until famine rendered the besieged unable to resist. In the prophecy and Lamentations of Jeremiah, we find more about this event; here it is enough to say that the impiety and misery of the besieged were very great.

Eventually, the city was taken by storm. The king, his family, and his leading men escaped in the night by secret passages.

But those who think to escape God's judgments deceive themselves, just as much as those who think to defy them.

Through what happened to Zedekiah, two prophecies that seemed to contradict each other were both fulfilled. Jeremiah prophesied that Zedekiah would be brought to Babylon (Jeremiah 32:5; Jeremiah 34:3); Ezekiel, that he would not see Babylon (Ezekiel 12:13). He was brought there, but his eyes having been put out, he did not see it.