“Now it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, that Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison” (2 Kings 25:27 NKJV).

After a long and depressing description of Judah’s decline and ultimate fall, the author of 2 Kings offered a glimmer of hope. After thirty-seven years in prison, the deposed king of Judah, Jehoiachin, was released and given a royal pension to live on the rest of his days by Evil-Merodach, son of Nebuchadnezzar. Thus, by God’s grace the seed of David was preserved.