⁴⁴ You are of your father, the devil, and it is your will to practice the lusts and gratify the desires [which are characteristic] of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a falsehood, he speaks what is natural to him, for he is a liar [himself] and the father of lies and of all that is false.

⁴⁵ But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me [do not trust Me, do not rely on Me, or adhere to Me].

⁴⁶ Who of you convicts Me of wrongdoing or finds Me guilty of sin? Then if I speak truth, why do you not believe Me [trust Me, rely on, and adhere to Me]?

⁴⁷ Whoever is of God listens to God. [Those who belong to God hear the words of God.] This is the reason that you do not listen [to those words, to Me]: because you do not belong to God and are not of God or in harmony with Him.

⁴⁸ The Jews answered Him, Are we not right when we say You are a Samaritan and that You have a demon [that You are under the power of an evil spirit]?

⁴⁹ Jesus answered, I am not possessed by a demon. On the contrary, I honor and reverence My Father and you dishonor (despise, vilify, and scorn) Me.

⁵⁰ However, I am not in search of honor for Myself. [I do not seek and am not aiming for My own glory.] There is One Who [looks after that; He] seeks [My glory], and He is the Judge.

⁵¹ I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone observes My teaching [lives in accordance with My message, keeps My word], he will by no means ever see and experience death.

⁵² The Jews said to Him, Now we know that You are under the power of a demon (^[a]insane). Abraham died, and also the prophets, yet You say, If a man keeps My word, he will never taste of death into all eternity.

⁵³ Are You greater than our father Abraham? He died, and all the prophets died! Who do You make Yourself out to be?

⁵⁴ Jesus answered, If I were to glorify Myself (magnify, praise, and honor Myself), I would have no real glory, for My glory would be nothing and worthless. [My honor must come to Me from My Father.] It is My Father Who glorifies Me [Who extols Me, magnifies, and praises Me], of Whom you say that He is your God.

⁵⁵ Yet you do not know Him or recognize Him and are not acquainted with Him, but I know Him. If I should say that I do not know Him, I would be a liar like you. But I know Him and keep His word [obey His teachings, am faithful to His message].

⁵⁶ Your forefather Abraham was extremely happy at the hope and prospect of seeing My day (My incarnation); and he did see it and was delighted.^(A)

⁵⁷ Then the Jews said to Him, You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?

⁵⁸ Jesus replied, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, before Abraham was born, I Am.^(B)

⁵⁹ So they took up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus, by mixing with the crowd, concealed Himself and went out of the temple [^[b]enclosure].

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24 In his days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him.

² The Lord sent against Jehoiakim bands of Chaldeans, of Syrians, of Moabites, and of Ammonites. And He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by His servants the prophets.

³ Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the Lord, to remove them out of His sight because of the sins of Manasseh according to all he had done,

⁴ And also for the innocent blood that he shed. For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord would not pardon.

⁵ The rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of Judah’s Kings?

⁶ So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers. Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.

⁷ The king of Egypt came no more out of his land, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to Egypt’s king, from the River of Egypt to the river Euphrates.

⁸ Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began his three-month reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.

⁹ And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, in keeping with all his father had done.

¹⁰ At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.

¹¹ Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it.

¹² Jehoiachin king of Judah surrendered to the king of Babylon, he, his mother, his servants, princes, and palace officials. The king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign.

¹³ He carried off all the treasures of the Lord’s house and the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of the Lord, which Solomon king of Israel had made, as the Lord had said.

¹⁴ He carried away all Jerusalem, all the princes, all the mighty men of valor, 10,000 captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths. None remained except the poorest of the land.

¹⁵ Nebuchadnezzar took captive to Babylon King Jehoiachin; his mother, his wives, his officials, and the chief and mighty men of the land [the prophet Ezekiel included] he took from Jerusalem to Babylon into exile.^(A)

¹⁶ And the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon all the men of valor, 7,000, and craftsmen and smiths, 1,000, all strong and fit for war.

¹⁷ And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his stead and changed his name to Zedekiah.

¹⁸ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began his eleven-year reign in Jerusalem. His mother was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

¹⁹ He did evil in the sight of the Lord, in keeping with all Jehoiakim had done.

²⁰ For because of the anger of the Lord it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that He cast them out of His presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

25 In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it, and they built siege works against it round about.

² The city was besieged [nearly two years] until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

³ On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was complete in the city; there was no food for the people of the land.

⁴ Then the city was broken through; the king and all the warriors fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were round about the city. [The king] went by the way toward the Arabah (the plain).

⁵ The Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him.

⁶ So they captured Zedekiah and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and sentence was passed on him.

⁷ And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in double fetters [hands and feet] and carried him to Babylon. [Foretold in Jer. 34:3; Ezek. 12:13.]

⁸ On the seventh day of the fifth month of the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, captain of the Babylonian king’s guard, came to Jerusalem.

⁹ He burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down.

¹⁰ All the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the [Babylonian] guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.

¹¹ Now the rest of the people left in the city and the deserters who fell away to the king of Babylon, along with the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile.

¹² But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and soil tillers.

¹³ The bronze pillars in the Lord’s house and [its] bases and the bronze Sea the Chaldeans smashed and carried the bronze to Babylon.

¹⁴ And they took away the pots, shovels, snuffers, dishes for incense, all the bronze vessels used in the temple service,

¹⁵ The firepans, and bowls. Such things as were of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver [he took away] as silver.

¹⁶ The two pillars, the one Sea, and the bases, which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these articles was incalculable.

¹⁷ The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and upon it was a capital of bronze. The height of the capital was three cubits; a network and pomegranates round about the capital were all of bronze. And the second pillar had the same as these, with a network.

¹⁸ The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold.

¹⁹ And out of the city he took an officer who was in command of the men of war and five men of the king’s personal advisors, who were found in the city, and the scribe of the captain of the army who mustered the people of the land and sixty men of the people who were found in the city.

²⁰ Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

²¹ The king of Babylon smote and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath [north of Damascus]. So Judah was taken into exile.

²² Over the people whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left in the land of Judah he appointed as governor Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan.

²³ And when all the captains of the forces and their men heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came with their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah, namely, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite.

²⁴ And Gedaliah swore to them and their men, saying, Do not be afraid of the Chaldean officials. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.

²⁵ But in the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal family [so having a claim to be governor], came with ten men and smote and killed Gedaliah and the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.

²⁶ Then all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces arose and went to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

²⁷ And in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, showed favor to Jehoiachin king of Judah and released him from prison;

²⁸ He spoke kindly to him and ranked him above the kings with him in Babylon.

²⁹ Jehoiachin put off his prison garments, and he dined regularly at the king’s table the remainder of his life.

³⁰ And his allowance, a continual one, was given him by the king, every day a portion, for the rest of his life.