Judah's last king — born Mattaniah, installed and renamed by Nebuchadnezzar himself after the 597 deportation (2 Kings 24:17): a vassal wearing a throne-name his conqueror chose. Twenty-one when crowned, chronically unable to choose between his officials and his conscience — he sends delegations to Jeremiah (21:1; 37:3), consults him in secret (37:17; 38:14-16), lets the officials drop him in the cistern, then lets Ebed-melech pull him out. The rebellion the prophet begged him not to make brought the final siege (588–586). His end at Riblah is the book's darkest sentence: his sons killed before his eyes, then his eyes put out — the last thing he ever saw (39:6-7).