Zedekiah would not die by the sword, however, but in peace. Since Zedekiah died in prison in Babylon, some commentators believed Jeremiah"s prophecy of his peaceful death was conditioned on his surrendering to the Babylonians. Probably the promise was not conditional and contrasted a death in battle with a death not in battle, which would have been peaceful by comparison. [source][source][source]
The people of Judah would lament Zedekiah"s death by burning spices, a traditional way of expressing grief (cf. Jeremiah 22:18; 2 Chronicles 16:14; 2 Chronicles 21:19). Yahweh promised this to the king. The Babylonians evidently permitted the Judeans in exile to mourn the death of their king in this way. [source][source][source]