They captured the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon: Depending on how the verb “overtook” is translated in the previous verse, the verb captured here may be considered redundant. In any case, the Babylonian soldiers clearly took Zedekiah as a captive to their king. Since two kings are referred to in this context, one or possibly both of them should probably be referred to by using the proper name; for example, Good News Translation renders the king as “Zedekiah” and the king of Babylon as “King Nebuchadnezzar.”
It is unclear why the Hebrew text includes upward movement in the phrase brought him up, but in any case, this is not essential to the story. Most modern versions have simply “brought him” (New American Standard Bible), “took him” (New Century Version, New Jerusalem Bible), or the passive verbal construction “was taken” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version) without any indication of upward movement.
Riblah: This city in northern Syria is also mentioned in 2 Kgs 23.33 and in Num 34.11.
Who passed sentence upon him is literally “and they spoke with him judgment.” The wording of both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation indicates that it was Nebuchadnezzar who judged Zedekiah. In the parallel passages in Jeremiah (39.5; 52.9), it is clearly the Babylonian king who pronounces the verdict against Zedekiah; but here in 2 Kings it is probably better to retain the plural pronoun subject (so Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), referring to the soldiers who captured him. The last part of this verse will then be translated “and they put him on trial” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh). New International Version avoids the problem by using the passive expression “where sentence was pronounced on him.” But this is not a viable option in languages where passive verbs are problematic or nonexistent. Nouvelle Bible Segond uses an indefinite plural pronoun as the subject here.
Quoted with permission from Omanson, Roger L. and Ellington, John E. A Handbook on 1-2 Kings, Volume 2. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .