Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah Again

¹⁴ King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and received him at the third entrance of the temple of the Lord. The king said to Jeremiah, “I will ask you a question; hide nothing from me.” ¹⁵ Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.” ¹⁶ Then King Zedekiah swore ^(A)secretly to Jeremiah, ^(B)“As the Lord lives, ^(C)who made our souls, I will not put you to death or deliver you into the hand of ^(D)these men who seek your life.”

¹⁷ Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(E)If you will surrender to ^(F)the officials of the king of Babylon, ^(G)then your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. ¹⁸ But if you do not surrender to ^(H)the officials of the king of Babylon, ^(I)then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, ^(J)and they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.” ¹⁹ King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judeans ^(K)who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest I be handed over to them and they deal cruelly with me.” ²⁰ Jeremiah said, “You shall not be given to them. Obey now the voice of the Lord in what I say to you, ^(L)and it shall be well with you, and your life shall be spared. ²¹ But if you refuse to ^(M)surrender, this is the vision which the Lord has shown to me: ²² Behold, all the women left in the house of the king of Judah were being led out to the officials of the king of Babylon and were saying,

²³ All your wives and ^(O)your sons shall be led out to the Chaldeans, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand, but shall be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city shall be burned with fire.”

²⁴ Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die. ²⁵ If ^(P)the officials hear that I have spoken with you and come to you and say to you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; hide nothing from us and we will not put you to death,’ ²⁶ then you shall say to them, ^(Q)‘I made a humble plea to the king that he would not send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.’” ²⁷ Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and asked him, and he answered them as the king had instructed him. So they stopped speaking with him, for the conversation had not been overheard. ²⁸ And Jeremiah remained ^(R)in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.

Lights in the World

¹² Therefore, my beloved, ^(A)as you have always ^(B)obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ for ^(C)it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for ^(D)his good pleasure.

¹⁴ Do all things ^(E)without grumbling or ^(F)disputing, ¹⁵ that you may be blameless and innocent, ^(G)children of God ^(H)without blemish ^(I)in the midst of ^(J)a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine ^(K)as lights in the world, ¹⁶ holding fast to ^(L)the word of life, so that in ^(M)the day of Christ ^(N)I may be proud that ^(O)I did not run in vain or labor in vain. ¹⁷ Even if I am to be ^(P)poured out as a drink offering upon ^(Q)the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. ¹⁸ Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.

Timothy and Epaphroditus

¹⁹ I hope in the Lord Jesus ^(R)to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. ²⁰ For I have no one ^(S)like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. ²¹ For they all ^(T)seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. ²² But you know Timothy's^{[a] (U)}proven worth, how ^(V)as a son^[b] with a father ^(W)he has served with me in the gospel. ²³ I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, ²⁴ and ^(X)I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.

²⁵ I have thought it necessary to send to you ^(Y)Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and ^(Z)fellow soldier, and your messenger and ^(AA)minister to my need, ²⁶ for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. ²⁷ Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. ²⁸ I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. ²⁹ So ^(AB)receive him in the Lord with all joy, and ^(AC)honor such men, ³⁰ for he nearly died^{[c] (AD)}for the work of Christ, risking his life ^(AE)to complete what was lacking in your service to me.

The Fall of Jerusalem

39 ^(A)In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it. ² In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city. ³ Then all ^(B)the officials of the king of Babylon came ^(C)and sat in the middle gate: Nergal-sar-ezer of Samgar, Nebu-sar-sekim ^(D)the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, with all the rest of the officers of the king of Babylon. ⁴ When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled, going out of the city at night by way of the king's garden through the gate between the two walls; and they went toward ^(E)the Arabah. ⁵ But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in ^(F)the plains of Jericho. And when they had taken him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, at ^(G)Riblah, in the land of Hamath; ^(H)and he passed sentence on him. ⁶ The king of Babylon ^(I)slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah at ^(J)Riblah before his eyes, and the king of Babylon ^(K)slaughtered all the nobles of Judah. ^7 (L)He put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains to take him to Babylon. ^8 (M)The Chaldeans burned the king's house and the house of the people, ^(N)and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁹ Then ^(O)Nebuzaradan, the ^(P)captain of the guard, carried into exile to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city, ^(Q)those who had deserted to him, and the people who remained. ¹⁰ Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, ^(R)left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.

The Lord Delivers Jeremiah

¹¹ Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, saying, ^12 (S)“Take him, look after him well, and do him no harm, but deal with him as he tells you.” ¹³ So ^(T)Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, Nebushazban the Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the Rab-mag, ^(U)and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon ¹⁴ sent and took Jeremiah from ^(V)the court of the guard. They entrusted him to ^(W)Gedaliah the son of ^(X)Ahikam, son of ^(Y)Shaphan, that he should take him home. So ^(Z)he lived among the people.

¹⁵ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah ^(AA)while he was shut up in the court of the guard: ¹⁶ “Go, and say to ^(AB)Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(AC)Behold, I will fulfill my words against this city for harm and ^(AD)not for good, and they shall be accomplished before you on that day. ¹⁷ But I will deliver you on that day, declares the Lord, and you shall not be given into the hand of the men ^(AE)of whom you are afraid. ¹⁸ For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but you shall have your ^(AF)life as a prize of war, ^(AG)because you have put your trust in me, declares the Lord.’”

The Plot to Kill Jesus

^45 (A)Many of the Jews therefore, ^(B)who had come with Mary and ^(C)had seen what he did, believed in him, ⁴⁶ but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷ So the chief priests and the Pharisees ^(D)gathered ^(E)the council and said, ^(F)“What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and ^(G)the Romans will come and take away both our ^(H)place and our nation.” ⁴⁹ But one of them, ^(I)Caiaphas, ^(J)who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. ⁵⁰ Nor do you understand that ^(K)it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” ⁵¹ He did not say this of his own accord, but ^(L)being high priest that year ^(M)he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, ⁵² and ^(N)not for the nation only, but also ^(O)to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. ⁵³ So from that day on they ^(P)made plans to put him to death.

⁵⁴ Jesus therefore ^(Q)no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.

⁵⁵ Now ^(R)the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and ^(S)many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover ^(T)to purify themselves. ^56 (U)They were looking for^[a] Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?” ⁵⁷ Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.