Then a breach was made in the city wall; the king and all the soldiers fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by the King's Garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. They went in the direction of the Arabah — the wall breaches (נִשְׁבְּרוּ־חוֹמוֹת הָעִיר, *nishbru chomot ha-ir*) indicate the culmination of siege: Jerusalem's fortifications have failed. Zedekiah and his soldiers attempt escape through the King's Garden toward the Arabah (the Jordan Valley depression). The night-time flight suggests desperation and loss of hope.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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