Jeremiah 22:10-12

See introd. summary to section. After Josiah's death at the battle of Megiddo (b.c. 608), Jehoahaz, though not the eldest son (see Intr. pp. xiv. f.), was chosen to succeed him, but after three months was dethroned by Pharaoh-necoh, and carried off to Egypt, where he died (2 Kings 23:33 ff.). The passage was evidently written very soon after the dethronement.

This is the first of the passages which treat consecutively of the three immediate predecessors of Zedekiah. The sense of the passage is that even the fate of Josiah, who at any rate reigned in prosperity and uprightness for more than thirty years, was preferable to that of his successor. Jeremiah 22:10 is in Ḳinah metre, while 11 and 12 are not metrical. For this reason, and because their contents would be superfluous information to contemporaries, Du. and Co. consider them a later addition.