9 Meanwhile Saul, ^[a]still drawing his breath hard from threatening and murderous desire against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest

² And requested of him letters to the synagogues at Damascus [authorizing him], so that if he found any men or women belonging to the Way [of life as determined by faith in Jesus Christ], he might bring them bound [with chains] to Jerusalem.

³ Now as he traveled on, he came near to Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him,

⁴ And he fell to the ground. Then he heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me [harassing, troubling, and molesting Me]?

⁵ And Saul said, Who are You, Lord? And He said, I am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting. ^[b]It is dangerous and it will turn out badly for you to keep kicking against the goad [to offer vain and perilous resistance].

⁶ Trembling and astonished he asked, Lord, what do You desire me to do? The Lord said to him, But arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.

⁷ The men who were accompanying him were unable to speak [for terror], hearing the voice but seeing no one.

⁸ Then Saul got up from the ground, but though his eyes were opened, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.

⁹ And he was unable to see for three days, and he neither ate nor drank [anything].

¹⁰ Now there was in Damascus a disciple named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias. And he answered, Here am I, Lord.

¹¹ And the Lord said to him, Get up and go to the street called Straight and ask at the house of Judas for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying [there].

¹² And he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias enter and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.

¹³ But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard many people tell about this man, especially how much evil and what great suffering he has brought on Your saints at Jerusalem;

¹⁴ Now he is here and has authority from the high priests to put in chains all who call upon Your name.

¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, Go, for this man is a chosen instrument of Mine to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the descendants of Israel;

¹⁶ For I will make clear to him how much he will be afflicted and must endure and suffer for My name’s sake.

¹⁷ So Ananias left and went into the house. And he laid his hands on Saul and said, Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, Who appeared to you along the way by which you came here, has sent me that you may recover your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸ And instantly something like scales fell from [Saul’s] eyes, and he recovered his sight. Then he arose and was baptized,

¹⁹ And after he took some food, he was strengthened. For several days [afterward] he remained with the disciples at Damascus.

²⁰ And immediately in the synagogues he proclaimed Jesus, saying, He is the Son of God!

²¹ And all who heard him were amazed and said, Is not this the very man who harassed and overthrew and destroyed in Jerusalem those who called upon this Name? And he has come here for the express purpose of arresting them and bringing them in chains before the chief priests.

²² But Saul increased all the more in strength, and continued to confound and put to confusion the Jews who lived in Damascus by comparing and examining evidence and proving that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah).

²³ After considerable time had elapsed, the Jews conspired to put Saul out of the way by slaying him,

²⁴ But [the knowledge of] their plot was made known to Saul. They were guarding the [city’s] gates day and night to kill him,

²⁵ But his disciples took him at night and let him down through the [city’s] wall, lowering him in a basket or hamper.

²⁶ And when he had arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to associate himself with the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe he really was a disciple.

²⁷ However, Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, and he explained to them how along the way he had seen the Lord, Who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached freely and confidently and courageously in the name of Jesus.

²⁸ So he went in and out [as one] among them at Jerusalem,

²⁹ Preaching freely and confidently and boldly in the name of the Lord. And he spoke and discussed with and disputed against the Hellenists (the Grecian Jews), but they were seeking to slay him.

³⁰ And when the brethren found it out, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus [his home town].

³¹ So the church throughout the whole of Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was edified [growing in wisdom, virtue, and piety] and walking in the respect and reverential fear of the Lord and in the consolation and exhortation of the Holy Spirit, continued to increase and was multiplied.

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35 Josiah kept the Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem; they killed the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the first month.

² He appointed the priests to their positions and encouraged them in the service of the house of the Lord.

³ To the Levites who taught all Israel and were holy to the Lord he said: Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon son of David king of Israel, built; it shall no longer be a burden carried on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and His people Israel.

⁴ Prepare yourselves according to your fathers’ houses by your divisions, after the directions of David king of Israel and of Solomon his son.

⁵ And stand in the holy court of the priests according to the sections of the fathers’ families of your kinsmen, the common people, and let there be a section of the Levites [to attend] to each division of the families of the people.

⁶ Kill the Passover lambs and sanctify yourselves and prepare for your brethren to do according to the word of the Lord by Moses.

⁷ Then Josiah contributed to the lay people lambs and kids of the flock as Passover offerings for all who were present, to the number of 30,000, and 3,000 young bulls—all from the king’s possessions.

⁸ And his princes gave for a freewill offering to the people, to the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, chief officers of God’s house, gave the priests for the Passover offerings 2,600 [lambs and kids] and 300 bulls.

⁹ Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel his brothers, and Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for Passover offerings 5,000 [lambs and kids] and 500 bulls.

¹⁰ When the service was ready, the priests stood in their place and the Levites in their divisions as the king commanded.

¹¹ They killed the Passover lambs, and the priests sprinkled the blood they received from the Levites who skinned the animals.

¹² Then they removed the burnt offerings, that they might distribute them according to the divisions of the lay families to offer to the Lord, as directed in the Book of Moses. And so they did with the bulls.

¹³ And they roasted the Passover lambs with fire according to the ordinance; and they cooked the holy offerings in pots, in caldrons, and in pans and carried them quickly to all the people.

¹⁴ Afterward [the Levites] prepared for themselves and the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were busy in offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night; so the Levites prepared for themselves and also for the priests, the sons of Aaron.

¹⁵ The singers, the sons of Asaph, were in their places according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer. And the gatekeepers were at every gate; they did not need to leave their service, for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.

¹⁶ So all the Lord’s service was prepared the same day to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings upon the Lord’s altar, as King Josiah commanded.

¹⁷ And the Israelites who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days.

¹⁸ No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet, even by any of the kings of Israel, as was kept by Josiah and the priests, the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

¹⁹ In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was kept.

²⁰ After all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Neco king of Egypt went out to fight against Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out against him.

²¹ But [Neco] sent ambassadors to [Josiah], saying, What have I to do with you, you king of Judah? I come not against you this day, but against the house with which I am at war; and God has commanded me to make haste. Refrain from opposing God, Who is with me, lest He destroy you.

²² Yet Josiah would not turn away from him, but disguised himself in order to fight with him. He did not heed the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to fight with him in the valley of Megiddo.

²³ And the archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, Take me away, for I am severely wounded.

²⁴ So his servants took him out of the chariot and put him in his second chariot and brought him to Jerusalem. And he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

²⁵ Jeremiah gave a lament for Josiah, and all the singing men and women have spoken of Josiah in their laments to this day. They made them an ordinance in Israel; behold, they are written in the Laments.^(A)

²⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his deeds, according to what is written in the Law of the Lord,

²⁷ And his acts, from first to last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

36 Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king in his father’s stead in Jerusalem.

² Jehoahaz was [then] twenty-three years old; he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

³ Then the king of Egypt deposed him at Jerusalem and fined the land a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

⁴ And the king of Egypt made Eliakim, Jehoahaz’ brother, king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz his brother and carried him to Egypt.

⁵ Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the Lord his God.

⁶ Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and bound him in fetters to take him to Babylon.

⁷ Nebuchadnezzar also took some of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon and put them in his temple or palace there.

⁸ Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and the abominations which he did, and what was found against him, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.

⁹ Jehoiachin was eight[een] years old then; he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did evil in the Lord’s sight.^(B)

¹⁰ In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, with the precious vessels of the house of the Lord, and made Zedekiah the [boy’s] brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.

¹¹ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.

¹² He did evil in the sight of the Lord his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke at the dictation of the Lord.

¹³ He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord, the God of Israel.

¹⁴ Also all the chiefs of the priests and the people trespassed greatly in accord with all the abominations of the heathen, and they polluted the house of the Lord which He had hallowed in Jerusalem.

¹⁵ And the Lord, the God of their fathers, sent to them persistently by His messengers, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place.

¹⁶ But they kept mocking the messengers of God and despising His words and scoffing at His prophets till the wrath of the Lord rose against His people, till there was no remedy or healing.

¹⁷ Therefore He brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or hoary-headed; He gave them all into his hand.

¹⁸ And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the Lord’s house, of the king, and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon.

¹⁹ And they burned God’s house and broke down Jerusalem’s wall and burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its choice vessels.

²⁰ Those who had escaped from the sword he took away to Babylon, where they were servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia was established there,

²¹ To fulfill the Lord’s word by Jeremiah, till the land had enjoyed its sabbaths; for as long as it lay desolate it kept sabbath to fulfill seventy years.^(C)

²² Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:

²³ Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord, the God of heaven, has given me, and He has charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may the Lord his God be with him, and let him go up [to Jerusalem].