The Fall of Jerusalem^(A)

25 On the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Jerusalem with his entire army. They set up camp and built dirt ramps around the city walls. ² The blockade of the city lasted until Zedekiah’s eleventh year as king. ³ On the ninth day of the fourth ^[a] month, the famine in the city became so severe that the common people had no food.

⁴ The enemy broke through the city walls that night. All Judah’s soldiers left on the road of the gate between the two walls beside the king’s garden. While the Babylonians were attacking the city from all sides, the king took the road to the plain ⌞of Jericho⌟. ⁵ The Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah and caught up with him in the plain of Jericho. His entire army had deserted him. ⁶ The Babylonians captured the king, brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and passed sentence on him. ⁷ They slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons as he watched, and then they blinded Zedekiah. They put him in bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.

⁸ On the seventh day of the fifth month of Nebuchadnezzar’s nineteenth year as king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, who was the captain of the guard and an officer of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. ⁹ He burned down the Lord’s temple, the royal palace, and all the houses in Jerusalem. Every important building was burned down. ¹⁰ The entire Babylonian army that was with the captain of the guard tore down the walls around Jerusalem.

¹¹ Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, captured the few people left in the city, those who surrendered to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the population. ¹² The captain of the guard left some of the poorest people in the land to work in the vineyards and on the farms.

¹³ The Babylonians broke apart the bronze pillars of the Lord’s temple, the stands, and the bronze pool in the Lord’s temple. They shipped the bronze to Babylon. ¹⁴ They took the pots, shovels, snuffers, dishes, and all the bronze utensils used in the temple service. ¹⁵ The captain of the guard took all of the incense burners and bowls that were made of gold or silver. ¹⁶ The bronze from the two pillars, the pool, and the stands that Solomon had made for the Lord’s temple couldn’t be weighed. ¹⁷ One pillar was 27 feet high and had a bronze capital on it that was 4½ feet high. The filigree and the pomegranates around the capital were all made of bronze. The second pillar and its filigree were the same.

¹⁸ The captain of the guard took the chief priest Seraiah, the second priest Zephaniah, and the 3 doorkeepers. ¹⁹ From the city he also took an army commander, 5 men who had access to the king whom he found in the city, the scribe who was in charge of the militia, and 60 of the common people whom he found in the city. ²⁰ Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²¹ The king of Babylon executed them at Riblah in the territory of Hamath. So the people of Judah were captives when they left their land.

²² King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon appointed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, to govern the remaining people in the land of Judah. ²³ When all the army commanders and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, they went to Gedaliah at Mizpah. They were Ishmael (son of Nethaniah), Johanan (son of Kareah), Seraiah (son of Tanhumeth from Netophah), and Jaazaniah from Beth Maacah and their men. ²⁴ Gedaliah swore an oath to them and their men. He said, “Don’t be afraid of the Babylonian officers. Live in this country, serve the king of Babylon, and you will prosper.”

²⁵ In the seventh month Ishmael (son of Nethaniah and grandson of Elishama, a descendant of the kings) went with ten men to kill Gedaliah and the Judeans and Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah. ²⁶ Then people of all classes and the army commanders left for Egypt because they were afraid of the Babylonians.

King Jehoiakin Released from Prison^(B)

²⁷ On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the imprisonment of King Jehoiakin of Judah, King Evil Merodach of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, freed King Jehoiakin of Judah from prison. ²⁸ He treated him well and gave him a special position higher than the other kings who were with him in Babylon. ²⁹ Jehoiakin no longer wore prison clothes, and he ate his meals in the king’s presence as long as he lived. ³⁰ The king of Babylon gave him a daily food allowance as long as he lived.

Jonah Tries to Run Away from the Lord

1 The Lord spoke his word to Jonah, son of Amittai. He said, ² “Leave at once for the important city, Nineveh. Announce to the people that I can no longer overlook the wicked things they have done.”

³ Jonah immediately tried to run away from the Lord by going to Tarshish. He went to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid for the trip and went on board. He wanted to go to Tarshish to get away from the Lord.

⁴ The Lord sent a violent wind over the sea. The storm was so powerful that the ship was in danger of breaking up. ⁵ The sailors were afraid, and they cried to their gods for help. They began to throw the cargo overboard to lighten the ship’s load.

Now, Jonah had gone below deck and was lying there sound asleep. ⁶ The captain of the ship went to him and asked, “How can you sleep? Get up, and pray to your God. Maybe he will notice us, and we won’t die.”

⁷ Then the sailors said to each other, “Let’s throw dice to find out who is responsible for bringing this disaster on us.” So they threw dice, and the dice indicated that Jonah was responsible.

⁸ They asked him, “Tell us, why has this disaster happened to us? What do you do for a living? Where do you come from? What country are you from? What nationality are you?”

⁹ Jonah answered them, “I’m a Hebrew. I worship the Lord, the God of heaven. He is the God who made the sea and the land.”

¹⁰ Then the men were terrified. They knew that he was running away from the Lord, because he had told them. They asked Jonah, “Why have you done this?”

¹¹ The storm was getting worse. So they asked Jonah, “What should we do with you to calm the sea?”

¹² He told them, “Throw me overboard. Then the sea will become calm. I know that I’m responsible for this violent storm.”

¹³ Instead, the men tried to row harder to get the ship back to shore, but they couldn’t do it. The storm was getting worse.

¹⁴ So they cried to the Lord for help: “Please, Lord, don’t let us die for taking this man’s life. Don’t hold us responsible for the death of an innocent man, because you, Lord, do whatever you want.” ¹⁵ Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the sea became calm. ¹⁶ The men were terrified of the Lord. They offered sacrifices and made vows to the Lord.^[a]

¹⁷ The Lord sent a big fish to swallow Jonah. Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.

Jonah’s Prayer inside the Fish

2 ^[b]From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God.

² Jonah prayed:

¹⁰ Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and it spit Jonah out onto the shore.

John’s Reason for Writing

1 The Word of life existed from the beginning. We have heard it. We have seen it. We observed and touched it. ² This life was revealed to us. We have seen it, and we testify about it. We are reporting to you about this eternal life that was in the presence of the Father and was revealed to us. ³ This is the life we have seen and heard. We are reporting about it to you also so that you, too, can have a relationship with us. Our relationship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. ⁴ We are writing this so that we can be completely filled with joy.

Through Jesus We Have a Relationship with God

⁵ This is the message we heard from Christ and are reporting to you: God is light, and there isn’t any darkness in him. ⁶ If we say, “We have a relationship with God” and yet live in the dark, we’re lying. We aren’t being truthful.

⁷ But if we live in the light in the same way that God is in the light, we have a relationship with each other. And the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from every sin. ⁸ If we say, “We aren’t sinful” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹ God is faithful and reliable. If we confess our sins, he forgives them and cleanses us from everything we’ve done wrong. ¹⁰ If we say, “We have never sinned,” we turn God into a liar and his Word is not in us.

A song for going up to worship.