Riblah

Overview

• Type: City
• Testament: Old
• Modern Location: Ribleh on the Orontes River, in the region of Hamath, modern Syria

Biblical Significance

Riblah, in the land of Hamath, lay on the great route between Mesopotamia and the lands of the south, making it a strategic base for armies marching against Judah. Pharaoh-nechoh had earlier imprisoned King Jehoahaz there (2 Kings 23:33), but Riblah is chiefly remembered as the headquarters of Nebuchadnezzar during the final siege and fall of Jerusalem. When the city fell, the captured King Zedekiah was brought up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where judgment was pronounced upon him: “they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon” (2 Kings 25:6-7; Jeremiah 39:5-7). There too the chief priests, officers, and nobles of Judah were executed (2 Kings 25:18-21; Jeremiah 52:24-27). Riblah thus became the place where the long-prophesied judgment upon faithless Judah was sealed.

Key Events

• Zedekiah’s sons slain and his eyes put out before Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 25:6-7)
• The chief priests and nobles of Judah executed at Riblah (2 Kings 25:18-21)

Key People Associated

• Zedekiah — judged, blinded, and bound for Babylon here
• Nebuchadnezzar — held his military court at Riblah

Important Verses

• 2 Kings 25:6
• 2 Kings 25:20-21
• Jeremiah 39:5-7
• Jeremiah 52:9-27

Cross-References

• 2 Kings — the fall of Jerusalem and Zedekiah’s fate
• Jeremiah — the prophet’s record of the same events

Notes

• The blinding of Zedekiah fulfilled the seemingly contradictory prophecies that he would be taken to Babylon (Jeremiah 32:5) yet not see it (Ezekiel 12:13).