Babylon Controls Jehoiakim

24 In his days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him. ² The Lord sent marauding bands of Chaldeans, Arameans (Syrians), Moabites, and Ammonites against Jehoiakim. And He sent them against Judah to destroy it, in accordance with the word of the Lord which He spoke through His servants the prophets. ³ Surely this came on Judah at the command of the Lord, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of [King] Manasseh, in accordance with everything that he had done, ⁴ and also for the innocent blood that he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; and the Lord would not pardon it. ⁵ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and everything that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

Jehoiachin Reigns

⁶ So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers [in death], and his son Jehoiachin became king in his place. ⁷ The king of Egypt did not come out of his land again, because the ^[a]king of Babylon had taken everything that belonged to the king of Egypt, from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates.

⁸ Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned [only] three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. ⁹ He did evil in the sight of the Lord, in accordance with everything that his father had done.

Deportation to Babylon

¹⁰ At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon went up to Jerusalem, and the city came under siege. ¹¹ Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it. ¹² Jehoiachin king of Judah surrendered to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his captains and his [palace] officials. So the king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of his [own] reign. ¹³ He carried out of there (Jerusalem) all the treasures of the house (temple) of the Lord, and the treasures of the house (palace) of the king, and cut in pieces all the articles of gold in the temple of the Lord, which Solomon king of Israel had made, just as the Lord had said. ¹⁴ He led away into exile all Jerusalem and all the captains and all the brave men, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land.

¹⁵ Nebuchadnezzar led Jehoiachin away into exile to Babylon; also he took the king’s mother and the king’s wives and his officials and the leading men of the land [including Ezekiel] as exiles from Jerusalem to Babylon.^{(A) 16} And the king of Babylon brought as exiles to Babylon all the brave men, seven thousand [of them], and the craftsmen and the smiths, a thousand [of them], all strong and fit for war.

Zedekiah Made King

¹⁷ Then the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

¹⁸ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.^{(B) 19} He did evil in the sight of the Lord, in accordance with everything that Jehoiakim had done. ²⁰ Because of the anger of the Lord these things happened in Jerusalem and Judah, and it [finally] came to the point that He cast them from His presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar Besieges Jerusalem

25 Now in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he with all his army, against Jerusalem, and camped against it and built siege works surrounding it. ² The city came under siege [for nearly two years] until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. ³ On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine [caused by the siege] was severe in the city; there was no food for the people of the land. ⁴ Then the city [wall] was broken into [and conquered]; all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls by the king’s garden, though the ^[b]Chaldeans (Babylonians) were all around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah (the plain of the Jordan). ⁵ The army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. Then his entire army was dispersed from him. ⁶ So they seized the king (Zedekiah) and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah [on the Orontes River], and sentence was passed on him. ⁷ They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, then put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him [hand and foot] with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon.^(C)

Jerusalem Burned and Plundered

⁸ On the seventh day of the fifth month in the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ⁹ He burned the house (temple) of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down. ¹⁰ All the army of the Chaldeans (Babylonians) who were with the captain of the bodyguard tore down the walls around Jerusalem. ¹¹ Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard deported [into exile] the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who had joined the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude. ¹² But the captain of the bodyguard left some of the unimportant and poorest people of the land to be vineyard workers and farmers.

¹³ Now the Chaldeans (Babylonians) smashed the bronze pillars which were in the house of the Lord and their bases and the bronze sea (large basin) which were in the house of the Lord, and carried the bronze to Babylon. ¹⁴ They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the bronze articles which were used in the temple service, ¹⁵ the captain of the bodyguard also took away the firepans and basins, anything made of fine gold and anything made of fine silver. ¹⁶ The two pillars, the one sea (large basin), and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these articles was incalculable. ¹⁷ The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits (27 ft.), and a capital of bronze was on top of it. The height of the capital was three cubits (4.5 ft.); a network (lattice work) and pomegranates around the capital were all of bronze. And the second pillar had the same as these, with a network.

¹⁸ The captain of the bodyguard took [captive] Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers [of the temple]. ¹⁹ And from the city [of Jerusalem] he took an officer who was in command of the men of war, and five men from the king’s personal advisors who were found in the city, and the scribe of the captain of the army who mustered the people of the land [for military service] and sixty men from the people of the land who were found in the city. ²⁰ Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²¹ Then the king of Babylon struck them down and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath [north of Damascus]. So Judah was taken into exile from its land.

Gedaliah Made Governor

²² Now over the people whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left in the land of Judah, he appointed [as governor] Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan. ²³ When all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah governor, they came with their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah, namely, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite. ²⁴ Gedaliah swore [an oath] to them and their men, and said to them, “Do not be afraid of the servants (officials) of the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you.”

²⁵ But in the seventh month Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal family [who had a claim to be governor], came with ten men and struck and killed Gedaliah and the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. ²⁶ Then all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces set out and went to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans (Babylonians).

²⁷ Now it came about in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month, that Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he became king, showed favor to Jehoiachin king of Judah and released him from prison; ²⁸ and he spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the throne of the [other] kings [of captive peoples] who were with him in Babylon. ²⁹ Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes [for palace garments] and he dined regularly in the king’s presence for the remainder of his life; ³⁰ and his allowance, a continual one, was given to him by the king (Evil-meridach), a portion every day, for the rest of his life.

The Healing at Bethesda

5 Later on there was a Jewish feast (festival), and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

² Now in Jerusalem, near the Sheep Gate, there is a ^[a]pool, which is called in Hebrew (Jewish Aramaic) Bethesda, having five porticoes (alcoves, colonnades). ³ In these porticoes lay a great number of people who were sick, blind, lame, withered, ^[b][waiting for the stirring of the water; ⁴ for an angel of the Lord went down into the pool at appointed seasons and stirred up the water; the first one to go in after the water was stirred was healed of his disease.] ⁵ There was a certain man there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus noticed him lying there [helpless], knowing that he had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to get well?” ⁷ The invalid answered, “Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am coming [to get into it myself], someone else steps down ahead of me.” ⁸ Jesus said to him, “Get up; pick up your pallet and walk.” ⁹ Immediately the man was healed and recovered his strength, and ^[c]picked up his pallet and walked.

Now that day was the Sabbath. ¹⁰ So the Jews kept saying to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and you are not ^[d]permitted to pick up your pallet [because it is unlawful].” ¹¹ He answered them, “The Man who healed me and gave me back my strength was the One who said to me, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk.’” ¹² They asked him, “Who is the Man who told you, ‘Pick up your pallet and walk’?” ¹³ Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away [unnoticed] since there was a crowd in that place. ¹⁴ Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. ¹⁶ For this reason the Jews began to persecute Jesus continually because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. ¹⁷ But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now [He has never ceased working], and I too am working.”

Jesus’ Equality with God

¹⁸ This made the Jews more determined than ever to kill Him, for not only was He breaking the Sabbath [from their viewpoint], but He was also calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.

¹⁹ So Jesus answered them by saying, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, the Son ^[e]can do nothing of Himself [of His own accord], unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever things the Father does, the Son [in His turn] also does in the same way. ²⁰ For the Father dearly loves the Son and shows Him everything that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will be filled with wonder. ²¹ Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life [and allows them to live on], even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. ²² For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment [that is, the prerogative of judging] to the Son [placing it entirely into His hands], ²³ so that all will give honor (reverence, homage) to the Son just as they give honor to the Father. [In fact] the one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who has sent Him.

²⁴ “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, the person who hears My word [the one who heeds My message], and believes and trusts in Him who sent Me, has (possesses now) eternal life [that is, eternal life actually begins—the believer is transformed], and does not come into judgment and condemnation, but has passed [over] from death into life.