Old/New Testament

24 Early in Jehoiakim’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon’s king, came into the land; and Jehoiakim was in his service three years. Then Jehoiakim rebelled. ² The Eternal One dispatched Chaldeans, Arameans, Moabites, and Ammonites to demolish Judah, in accordance with the message the Eternal spoke through His servants the prophets.

³ Because of Manasseh’s abhorrent wickedness and all he did, Judah was removed from the presence of the Eternal One, just as He had commanded. ⁴ His wrath came because of the innocent blood Manasseh had flooded Jerusalem with. He would not forgive them.

⁵ Is not the rest of Jehoiakim’s story—his actions and lasting legacy—documented in the book of the chronicles of Judah’s kings? ⁶ Jehoiakim left this world to sleep with his fathers. His son, Jehoiachin, then inherited the throne.

⁷ Egypt’s king never departed from his own country again because Babylon’s king, Nebuchadnezzar, ruled everything that had formerly been in the possession of Egypt’s king, all the way from the brook of Egypt to the Euphrates River.

⁸ Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he inherited the throne. His reign in Jerusalem lasted 3 months. His mother was Nehushta (Elnathan’s daughter from Jerusalem). ⁹ He committed evil in the Eternal’s eyes. He was just like his father.

^10-11 During that time, the servants of Nebuchadnezzar (king of Babylon) put Jerusalem under siege, and Nebuchadnezzar entered the city during the siege. ¹² Jehoiachin, Judah’s king, met with Nebuchadnezzar face-to-face in a peaceful surrender, along with Jehoiachin’s mother, servants, commanders, and administrators. The king of Babylon took Jehoiachin captive during the eighth year of his reign. ¹³ He cleaned out all the treasuries in the Eternal’s temple and in the king’s palace, and he also took and cut into pieces all the gold vessels Solomon (king of Israel) had crafted in the Eternal’s temple, just as the Eternal One had said.^[a] He left nothing. ¹⁴ Nebuchadnezzar then gathered up all of Jerusalem—the commanders, warriors, craftsmen, and artisans (10,000 in all)—and forced them into exile. Only the poorest people remained.

¹⁵ Nebuchadnezzar forced Jehoiachin, his mother, his wives, his administrators, and the elders of Judah into exile in Babylon. ¹⁶ He also forced 7,000 warriors and 1,000 craftsmen and artisans into exile in Babylon. ¹⁷ Nebuchadnezzar then appointed Jehoiachin’s uncle, Mattaniah, to take his place as king, and Nebuchadnezzar gave Mattaniah a new name—Zedekiah.

¹⁸ Zedekiah was 21 years old when he was given the throne by Nebuchadnezzar. His reign in Jerusalem lasted 11 years. His mother was Hamutal (Jeremiah’s daughter) from Libnah. ¹⁹ Zedekiah committed evil in the Eternal’s eyes. He was wicked like Jehoiakim.

²⁰ This all took place in Jerusalem and Judah because of the Eternal’s boiling anger. The Eternal One moved them out of the land and away from His presence.

Then, Zedekiah turned his back on Nebuchadnezzar.

25 On the 10th day of the 10th month, during the 9th year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar (Babylon’s king) and his entire army surrounded Jerusalem. They camped outside the city and built siege ramps around it. ² The city remained under siege until the 11th year of Zedekiah’s reign.

³ On the 9th day of the 4th month, there was a food shortage in the city, and no one had anything to eat. Everyone became afraid of starvation. ⁴ The city wall was breached, and all the warriors ran out during the night through the gateway between the two walls near the king’s garden, in spite of the Chaldeans surrounding the city. The warriors went on the Arabah road. ⁵ The Chaldean army chased after the fleeing king and caught up to him in the fields of Jericho. His army dispersed in all directions. ⁶ They took the king captive and escorted him to Babylon’s king at Riblah. Nebuchadnezzar decided on a punishment for the king: ⁷ they killed Zedekiah’s sons right in front of Zedekiah; then they gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes so that the slaughter of his sons was the last thing he ever saw, and they put him in bronze shackles and transported him to Babylon.

⁸ On the 7th day, during the 5th month of Nebuchadnezzar’s 19th year as king over Babylon, Nebuzaradan, a servant of the king and captain of Nebuchadnezzar’s guards, arrived in Jerusalem. ⁹ Nebuzaradan set fire to the Eternal’s temple, the palace, and every house in Jerusalem. He burned down every large house and structure in Jerusalem. ¹⁰ The entire Chaldean army, who was with Nebuzaradan, tore down Jerusalem’s walls. ¹¹ Nebuzaradan captured everyone who was still in the city, even the renegades who had fled to Nebuchadnezzar, and he forced them into exile. ¹² But Nebuzaradan spared the poorest people and left them to take care of the land as farmers and gardeners.

¹³ The Chaldeans took everything of value. They took the bronze pillars, stands, and the bronze sea in the Eternal’s temple; and they broke them up into pieces and took the bronze to Babylon. ¹⁴ They also took the pans, the shovels, the snuffers, the bronze objects, and every bronze cup that was used during the rituals of the temple. ¹⁵ Nebuzaradan took the coal pans and bowls and all the gold and purified silver. ¹⁶ The amount of bronze (including the two bronze pillars, the bronze sea, and the bronze stands Solomon crafted for the Eternal’s temple) was so great that it could not be weighed. ¹⁷ Each pillar was 27 feet high with a bronze capital. The capital was 54 inches high, and it was covered with bronze network and bronze pomegranates. Both pillars were exactly alike.

¹⁸ Nebuzaradan gathered Seraiah, the head priest, and Zephaniah, the second priest, along with the three doorkeepers. ¹⁹ In the city, he gathered up one officer of the army, five of the king’s counselors, the army captain’s aide for mustering the troops, and 60 other Judahite men. ²⁰ Nebuzaradan (captain of the guard) escorted them to Babylon’s king at Riblah. ²¹ Nebuchadnezzar killed them all at Riblah in Hamath. Thus Judah was separated from the land and forced into exile.

²² Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had allowed some people to remain in Judah, so he appointed Gedaliah (son of Ahikam, Shaphan’s son) to govern the land. ²³ When all the army commanders received word that Nebuchadnezzar had appointed Gedeliah to govern the land, they went to visit Gedeliah in Mizpah. Those who visited him were Ishmael (Nethaniah’s son), Johanan (Kareah’s son), Seraiah (Tanhumeth the Netophathite’s son), and Jaazaniah (the Maacathite’s son), including their men. ²⁴ Gedaliah attempted to assuage them and swore an oath before them.

²⁵ But during the 7th month, Ishmael, (son of Nethaniah, Elishama’s son) of the royal family, attacked Gedaliah with 10 male accomplices. Gedaliah and all the Jews and Chaldeans at Mizpah were killed. ²⁶ Everyone in the community, both rich and poor, even the commanders of the army, traveled to Egypt because they greatly feared the Chaldeans.

²⁷ On the 27th day of the 12th month during the 37th year of the exile of Jehoiachin (Judah’s king), Evil-merodach (Babylon’s king) released Jehoiachin from prison. Evil-merodach did this the same year he inherited the throne. ²⁸ Evil-merodach was good to Jehoiachin, and he gave Jehoiachin an honorary throne that was higher than all the thrones of the other kings held captive in Babylon. ²⁹ Jehoiachin removed his prison garments and put on new clothes. He ate his meals with the king every day for the rest of his life. ³⁰ The king also gave him a stipend on a daily basis for the rest of his life.

5 When these events were completed, Jesus led His followers to Jerusalem where they would celebrate a Jewish feast^[a] together.

^2-3 In Jerusalem they came upon a pool by the sheep gate surrounded by five covered porches. In Hebrew this place is called Bethesda.

Crowds of people lined the area, lying around the porches. All of these people were disabled in some way; some were blind, lame, paralyzed, or plagued by diseases[; and they were waiting for the waters to move. ⁴ From time to time, a heavenly messenger would come to stir the water in the pool. Whoever reached the water first and got in after it was agitated would be healed of his or her disease].^{[b] 5-6} In the crowd, Jesus noticed one particular man who had been living with his disability for 38 years. He knew this man had been waiting here a long time.

⁹ At the moment Jesus uttered these words, a healing energy coursed through the man and returned life to his limbs—he stood and walked for the first time in 38 years. But this was the Sabbath Day; and any work, including carrying a mat, was prohibited on this day.

¹³ The man genuinely did not know who it was that healed him. In the midst of the crowd and the excitement of his renewed health, Jesus had slipped away. ¹⁴ Some time later, Jesus found him in the temple and again spoke to him.

¹⁵ The man went immediately to tell the Jewish leaders that Jesus was the mysterious healer. ¹⁶ So they began pursuing and attacking Jesus because He performed these miracles on the Sabbath.

¹⁸ He was justifying the importance of His work on the Sabbath, claiming God as His Father in ways that suggested He was equal to God. These pious religious leaders sought an opportunity to kill Jesus, and these words fueled their hatred.