Shared ground

This short unit presents Judah’s last stretch before the final collapse as both political and moral. Politically, Babylon controls Judah by removing Jehoiachin and installing his uncle Mattaniah, then renaming him Zedekiah (v.17). Morally, the narrator evaluates Zedekiah’s rule as “evil in Yahweh’s sight,” continuing the direction associated with Jehoiakim (v.19).

The passage also links events in Jerusalem and Judah to Yahweh’s anger (v.20). Babylon’s actions are real historical pressures, but the narrator insists there is also a divine dimension shaping where the story is heading.

Where interpretation differs

How Yahweh’s anger relates to Babylon’s control. Some read v.20 as saying Yahweh is actively directing the rise of Babylon and the internal choices of Judah’s leaders, so that imperial action becomes part of divine judgment. Others read it more as Yahweh “giving them over” to consequences: Babylon acts from its own aims, and Yahweh’s anger is seen in his withdrawal of protection rather than in detailed divine steering of each political move.

What “cast them out from his presence” points to. Some take this as mainly the later removal of Judah from the land and temple-centered life (the coming exile). Others take it more broadly as describing a process already underway—Judah is effectively being removed from the benefits of Yahweh’s presence as the kingdom unravels, climaxing in exile.

Why the disagreement exists

Verse 20 compresses a lot into a few lines: it states Yahweh’s anger as the frame (“through the anger of Yahweh”) and also reports concrete political actions (Zedekiah’s rebellion). Readers differ on how directly to connect divine purpose to specific human and imperial decisions, and on whether “cast them out” is a single later event or a summary statement that includes that later event.

What this passage clearly contributes

• It depicts Zedekiah’s kingship as starting under foreign appointment and renaming, highlighting Judah’s loss of real independence (v.17).
• It anchors the timeline and lineage of the final king in Jerusalem (v.18).
• It gives the narrator’s moral verdict: Zedekiah continues the kind of wrongdoing associated with Jehoiakim (v.19).
• It frames the crisis theologically: what happens in Jerusalem and Judah is happening under Yahweh’s anger, moving toward expulsion from his presence (v.20).
• It identifies the immediate political rupture that leads into the next chapter: Zedekiah rebels against Babylon (v.20; see also 2 Kings 25:1).