Zedekiah Seeks an Answer from God

¹⁴ Then King Zedekiah ^(A)sent word and ^[a]had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance that is in the house of the Lord; and the king said to Jeremiah, “I am going to ^(B)ask you something; do not hide anything from me.” ¹⁵ And Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “^(C)If I tell you, will you not certainly put me to death? Besides, if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.” ¹⁶ But King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in ^(D)secret, saying, “As the Lord lives, who made this ^[b](E)life for us, I certainly will not put you to death, nor will I hand you over to ^(F)these men who are seeking your ^[c]life.”

¹⁷ So Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord ^(G)God of armies, the ^(H)God of Israel says: ‘If you will indeed ^(I)surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then ^[d]you will live, this city will not be burned with fire, and you and your household will ^[e]survive. ¹⁸ But if you do ^(J)not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city ^(K)will be handed over to the Chaldeans; and they will burn it with fire, and ^(L)you yourself will not escape from their hands.’” ¹⁹ Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am ^(M)in fear of the Jews who have ^(N)deserted to the Chaldeans, for they may hand me over to them, and they will ^(O)abuse me.” ²⁰ But Jeremiah said, “They will not turn you over. Please ^[f](P)obey the Lord in what I am saying to you, so that it may go ^(Q)well for you and ^[g](R)you may live. ²¹ But if you keep refusing to surrender, this is the word which the Lord has shown me: ²² ‘Behold, all of the ^(S)women who have been left in the palace of the king of Judah are going to be brought out to the officers of the king of Babylon; and those women will say,

²³ They are also going to bring out all your wives and your ^(T)sons to the Chaldeans, and ^(U)you yourself will not escape from their hand, but will be seized by the hand of the king of Babylon, and ^(V)this city will be burned with fire.’”

²⁴ Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know about these words, and you will not die. ²⁵ But if the ^(W)officials hear that I have talked with you and come to you and say to you, ‘Tell us now what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us and we will not put you to death,’ ²⁶ then you are to say to them, ‘I was ^(X)presenting my plea before the king, not to make me return to the house of Jonathan to die there.’” ²⁷ Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him. So he reported to them in accordance with all these words which the king had commanded; and they stopped speaking with him, since the ^[i]conversation had not been overheard. ²⁸ So Jeremiah ^(Y)stayed in the courtyard of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was captured.

¹² So then, my beloved, ^(A)just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own ^(B)salvation with ^(C)fear and trembling; ¹³ for it is ^(D)God who is at work in you, both to ^[a]desire and to work ^(E)for His good pleasure.

¹⁴ Do all things without ^(F)complaining or arguments; ¹⁵ so that you will ^[b]prove yourselves to be ^(G)blameless and innocent, ^(H)children of God above reproach in the midst of a ^(I)crooked and perverse generation, among whom you ^[c](J)appear as ^[d]lights in the world, ¹⁶ holding firmly the word of life, so that on ^(K)the day of Christ I can take pride because I did not ^(L)run in vain nor ^(M)labor in vain. ¹⁷ But even if I am being ^(N)poured out as a drink offering upon ^(O)the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. ¹⁸ You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.

Timothy and Epaphroditus

¹⁹ But I hope, ^[e]in the Lord Jesus, to ^(P)send ^(Q)Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. ²⁰ For I have no one else ^(R)of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. ²¹ For they all ^(S)seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. ²² But you know ^(T)of his proven character, that ^(U)he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel ^(V)like a child serving his father. ^23 (W)Therefore I hope to send him immediately, as soon as I see how things go with me; ²⁴ and ^(X)I trust in the Lord that I myself will also be coming shortly. ²⁵ But I thought it necessary to send to you ^(Y)Epaphroditus, my brother and ^(Z)fellow worker and ^(AA)fellow soldier, who is also your ^[f](AB)messenger and ^(AC)minister to my need, ²⁶ because he was longing ^[g]for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. ²⁷ For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow. ²⁸ Therefore I have sent him all the more eagerly, so that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may be less concerned about you. ^29 (AD)Receive him then in the Lord with all joy, and ^(AE)hold people like him in high regard, ³⁰ because he came close to death ^[h](AF)for the work of Christ, risking his life to ^(AG)compensate ^[i]for your absence in your service to me.

Jerusalem Captured

39 ^[a]Now when Jerusalem was captured ^[b](A)in the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it; ² in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the city wall was ^(B)breached. ³ Then all the ^(C)officials of the king of Babylon came in and sat down at the ^(D)Middle Gate: Nergal-sar-ezer, Samgar-nebu, Sar-sekim the ^[c]Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the ^[d]Rab-mag, and all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon. ⁴ And when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, they ^(E)fled and left the city at night by way of the king’s garden through the gate ^(F)between the two walls; and he went out toward the ^[e]Arabah. ⁵ But the army of the ^(G)Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the ^(H)plains of Jericho; and they took him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at ^(I)Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he ^[f]passed sentence on him. ⁶ Then the ^(J)king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah ^(K)before his eyes at Riblah; the king of Babylon also slaughtered all the ^(L)nobles of Judah. ⁷ He then ^(M)blinded Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in ^(N)shackles of bronze to bring him to ^(O)Babylon. ⁸ The Chaldeans also ^(P)burned the king’s palace and the houses of the people with fire, and they ^(Q)tore down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁹ And as for the rest of the people who were left in the city, the ^(R)deserters who had deserted to him and ^(S)the rest of the people who remained, ^(T)Nebuzaradan the ^(U)captain of the bodyguard took them into exile in Babylon. ¹⁰ But some of the ^(V)poorest people, who had nothing, ^(W)Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard left behind in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields ^[g]at that time.

Jeremiah Spared

¹¹ Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave orders regarding ^(X)Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, saying, ¹² “Take him and ^[h]look after him, and ^(Y)do not do anything harmful to him, but rather deal with him just as he tells you.” ¹³ So Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard sent word, along with Nebushazban the ^[i]Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the ^[j]Rab-mag, and all the leading officers of the king of Babylon; ¹⁴ they even sent word and ^(Z)took Jeremiah out of the courtyard of the guardhouse and entrusted him to ^(AA)Gedaliah, the son of ^(AB)Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him home. So he stayed among the people.

¹⁵ Now the word of the Lord had come to Jeremiah while he was ^(AC)confined in the courtyard of the guardhouse, saying, ¹⁶ “Go and speak to ^(AD)Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘This is what the Lord of armies, the God of Israel says: “Behold, I am going to bring My words on this city ^(AE)for disaster and not for ^[k]prosperity; and they will ^(AF)take place before you on that day. ¹⁷ But I will ^(AG)save you on that day,” declares the Lord, “and you will not be handed over to the men of whom you are afraid. ¹⁸ For I will assuredly rescue you, and you will not fall by the sword; but you will have your own ^(AH)life as plunder, because you have ^(AI)trusted in Me,” declares the Lord.’”

^45 (A)Therefore many of the Jews ^(B)who came to Mary, and ^(C)saw what He had done, believed in Him. ⁴⁶ But some of them went to the ^(D)Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.

Conspiracy to Kill Jesus

⁴⁷ Therefore ^(E)the chief priests and the Pharisees ^(F)convened a ^(G)council meeting, and they were saying, “What are we ^[a]doing in regard to the fact that this man is performing many ^[b](H)signs? ⁴⁸ If we let Him go on like this, all the people will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take over both our ^[c](I)place and our nation.” ⁴⁹ But one of them, ^(J)Caiaphas, ^(K)who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, ⁵⁰ nor are you taking into account that ^(L)it is in your best interest that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish instead.” ⁵¹ Now he did not say this ^[d]on his own, but ^(M)as he was high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation; ⁵² and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also ^(N)gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. ⁵³ So from that day on they ^(O)planned together to kill Him.

⁵⁴ Therefore Jesus ^(P)no longer continued to walk publicly among the Jews, but went away from there to the region near the wilderness, into a city called ^(Q)Ephraim; and there He stayed with the disciples.

⁵⁵ Now ^(R)the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem from the country prior to the Passover, ^(S)in order to ^[e]purify themselves. ⁵⁶ So they ^(T)were looking for Jesus, and saying to one another as they stood in the temple area, “What do you think; that He will not come to the feast at all?” ⁵⁷ Now ^(U)the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he was to report it, so that they might arrest Him.