Zedekiah’s Fears and Jeremiah’s Advice

¹⁴ Then Zedekiah the king sent and had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance of the house of the Lord. And the king said to Jeremiah, “I will ^(A)ask you something. Hide nothing from me.”

¹⁵ Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.”

¹⁶ So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, “As the Lord lives, ^(B)who made our very souls, I will not put you to death, nor will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life.”

¹⁷ Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If you surely ^(C)surrender^{[a] (D)}to the king of Babylon’s princes, then your soul shall live; this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. ¹⁸ But if you do not ^[b]surrender to the king of Babylon’s princes, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans; they shall burn it with fire, and ^(E)you shall not escape from their hand.’ ”

¹⁹ And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have ^(F)defected to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they ^(G)abuse me.”

²⁰ But Jeremiah said, “They shall not deliver you. Please, obey the voice of the Lord which I speak to you. So it shall be ^(H)well with you, and your soul shall live. ²¹ But if you refuse to ^[c]surrender, this is the word that the Lord has shown me: ²² ‘Now behold, all the ^(I)women who are left in the king of Judah’s house shall be surrendered to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those women shall say:

²³ ‘So they shall surrender all your wives and ^(J)children to the Chaldeans. ^(K)You shall not escape from their hand, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon. And you shall cause this city to be burned with fire.’ ”

²⁴ Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die. ²⁵ But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say to you, ‘Declare to us now what you have said to the king, and also what the king said to you; do not hide it from us, and we will not put you to death,’ ²⁶ then you shall say to them, ^(L)‘I presented my request before the king, that he would not make me return ^(M)to Jonathan’s house to die there.’ ”

²⁷ Then all the princes came to Jeremiah and asked him. And he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they stopped speaking with him, for the conversation had not been heard. ²⁸ Now ^(N)Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken. And he was there when Jerusalem was taken.

Light Bearers

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

¹⁴ Do all things ^(F)without ^[a]complaining and ^(G)disputing,^{[b] 15} that you may become blameless and ^[c]harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as ^(H)lights in the world, ¹⁶ holding fast the word of life, so that ^(I)I may rejoice in the day of Christ that ^(J)I have not run in vain or labored in ^(K)vain.

¹⁷ Yes, and if ^(L)I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice ^(M)and service of your faith, ^(N)I am glad and rejoice with you all. ¹⁸ For the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me.

Timothy Commended

¹⁹ But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send ^(O)Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your ^[d]state. ²⁰ For I have no one ^(P)like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state. ²¹ For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. ²² But you know his proven character, ^(Q)that as a son with his father he served with me in the gospel. ²³ Therefore I hope to send him at once, as soon as I see how it goes with me. ²⁴ But I trust in the Lord that I myself shall also come shortly.

Epaphroditus Praised

²⁵ Yet I considered it necessary to send to you ^(R)Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker, and ^(S)fellow soldier, ^(T)but your messenger and ^(U)the one who ministered to my need; ^26 (V)since he was longing for you all, and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. ²⁷ For indeed he was sick almost unto death; but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. ²⁸ Therefore I sent him the more eagerly, that when you see him again you may rejoice, and I may be less sorrowful. ²⁹ Receive him therefore in the Lord with all gladness, and hold such men in esteem; ³⁰ because for the work of Christ he came close to death, ^[e]not regarding his life, ^(W)to supply what was lacking in your service toward me.

The Fall of Jerusalem^(A)

39 In the ^(B)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 ^(C)eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the ^[a]city was penetrated.

^3 (D)Then all the princes of the king of Babylon came in and sat in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer, Samgar-Nebo, Sarsechim, ^[b]Rabsaris, Nergal-Sarezer, ^[c]Rabmag, with the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon.

^4 (E)So it was, when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, that they fled and went out of the city by night, by way of the king’s garden, by the gate between the two walls. And he went out by way of the ^[d]plain. ⁵ But the Chaldean army pursued them and ^(F)overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had captured him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, to ^(G)Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment on him. ⁶ Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his ^(H)eyes in Riblah; the king of Babylon also killed all the ^(I)nobles of Judah. ⁷ Moreover ^(J)he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with bronze ^[e]fetters to carry him off to Babylon. ^8 (K)And the Chaldeans burned the king’s house and the houses of the people with ^(L)fire, and broke down the ^(M)walls of Jerusalem. ^9 (N)Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive to Babylon the remnant of the people who remained in the city and those who ^(O)defected to him, with the rest of the people who remained. ¹⁰ But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left in the land of Judah the ^(P)poor people, who had nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields ^[f]at the same time.

Jeremiah Goes Free

¹¹ Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying, ¹² “Take him and look after him, and do him no ^(Q)harm; but do to him just as he says to you.” ¹³ So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent Nebushasban, Rabsaris, Nergal-Sharezer, Rabmag, and all the king of Babylon’s chief officers; ¹⁴ then they sent someone ^(R)to take Jeremiah from the court of the prison, and committed him ^(S)to Gedaliah the son of ^(T)Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should take him home. So he dwelt among the people.

¹⁵ Meanwhile the word of the Lord had come to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying, ¹⁶ “Go and speak to ^(U)Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, ^(V)I will bring My words upon this city for adversity and not for good, and they shall be performed in that day before you. ¹⁷ But I will deliver you in that day,” says the Lord, “and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. ¹⁸ For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword; but ^(W)your life shall be as a prize to you, ^(X)because you have put your trust in Me,” says the Lord.’ ”

The Plot to Kill Jesus^(A)

⁴⁵ Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, ^(B)and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him. ⁴⁶ But some of them went away to the Pharisees and ^(C)told them the things Jesus did. ^47 (D)Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, ^(E)“What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.”

⁴⁹ And one of them, ^(F)Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, ^50 (G)nor do you consider that it is expedient for ^[a]us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.” ⁵¹ Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, ⁵² and ^(H)not for that nation only, but ^(I)also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.

⁵³ Then, from that day on, they plotted to ^(J)put Him to death. ^54 (K)Therefore Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called ^(L)Ephraim, and there remained with His disciples.

^55 (M)And the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went from the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover, to ^(N)purify themselves. ^56 (O)Then they sought Jesus, and spoke among themselves as they stood in the temple, “What do you think—that He will not come to the feast?” ⁵⁷ Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command, that if anyone knew where He was, he should report it, that they might ^(P)seize Him.