According to 2 Kings 24:10-11 the city of Jerusalem was under the siege of the Babylonian king's slaves before the king and his troops had arrived to the city, just before the second day of the month of Adar. Jehoiachin had probably surrendered due to his disappointment in the lack of aid from his alley, Egypt (his father Jehoiakim died possibly during this siege). Following the siege, the elite of Jerusalem was exiled to Babylon: 7,000 soldiers and 1,000 auxilary troops. These, including king Jehoiachin and his court, were exiled in the month of Nisan, 597 BCE. Following the Exile of Jehoiachin, his uncle Zidkeyahu was appointed by the Babylonians king of Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar's invasion in 589/8 BCE found Judah to be politically isolated, weak (since its military was exiled some ten years earlier), and socially devided between the supporters and opposers of a war against the Babylonians. The siege of Jerusalem lasted two and a half years, until its final surrender in the month of Av, 586 BCE. The biblical sources give a detailed description of the battle over Jerusalem. The book of Kings focuses on the last stages of the battle and the city's destruction. Information cncerning the long siege is available in the prophesies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel. According to Ezekiel, a small Egyptian military force was sent to Judah, but its was overthrown between the months of Tevet and Nisan, 587 BCE. Nebuchadnezzar enclosed the city with a ramp and used a battering ram to destroy the city walls. The final surrender of the city was greatfully due to the hunger imposed upon its citizens. The city walls, probably in the north, were finally dismantled on the ninth day of the month of Tamuz, 586 BCE. Almost a month had past until the final destruction of the city on the seventh or tenth day of the month of Av, 586 BCE.

Following the dismantling of the city walls, Zidkiyahu and his entourage escaped at night to the southern part of the city (the area of the “King's Garden” near the Siloam Pool) in order to flee to Transjordan. However, Zidkiyahu was cought near Jericho and was brought to Nebuchadnezzar's headquarters in Ravleh, Syria, where he was imprisioned and sent to Babylon. Archaeological excavations in the eastern slope of the Ophel and in the Upper City of Jerusalem revealed concrete testimony to the Babylonian conquest of the city.

With the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians ended the Davidic dynasty, and with it ceased the Judaean Kingdom. Now eyes were set to the Babylonian exiles for hope for the redemption of the nation.