The Second Passover

9 A year after Israel’s departure from Egypt, the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai. In the first month^[a] of that year he said, ² “Tell the Israelites to celebrate the Passover at the prescribed time, ³ at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month.^[b] Be sure to follow all my decrees and regulations concerning this celebration.”

⁴ So Moses told the people to celebrate the Passover ⁵ in the wilderness of Sinai as twilight fell on the fourteenth day of the month. And they celebrated the festival there, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ⁶ But some of the men had been ceremonially defiled by touching a dead body, so they could not celebrate the Passover that day. They came to Moses and Aaron that day ⁷ and said, “We have become ceremonially unclean by touching a dead body. But why should we be prevented from presenting the Lord’s offering at the proper time with the rest of the Israelites?”

⁸ Moses answered, “Wait here until I have received instructions for you from the Lord.”

⁹ This was the Lord’s reply to Moses. ¹⁰ “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: If any of the people now or in future generations are ceremonially unclean at Passover time because of touching a dead body, or if they are on a journey and cannot be present at the ceremony, they may still celebrate the Lord’s Passover. ¹¹ They must offer the Passover sacrifice one month later, at twilight on the fourteenth day of the second month.^[c] They must eat the Passover lamb at that time with bitter salad greens and bread made without yeast. ¹² They must not leave any of the lamb until the next morning, and they must not break any of its bones. They must follow all the normal regulations concerning the Passover.

¹³ “But those who neglect to celebrate the Passover at the regular time, even though they are ceremonially clean and not away on a trip, will be cut off from the community of Israel. If they fail to present the Lord’s offering at the proper time, they will suffer the consequences of their guilt. ¹⁴ And if foreigners living among you want to celebrate the Passover to the Lord, they must follow these same decrees and regulations. The same laws apply both to native-born Israelites and to the foreigners living among you.”

The Fiery Cloud

¹⁵ On the day the Tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered it.^[d] But from evening until morning the cloud over the Tabernacle looked like a pillar of fire. ¹⁶ This was the regular pattern—at night the cloud that covered the Tabernacle had the appearance of fire. ¹⁷ Whenever the cloud lifted from over the sacred tent, the people of Israel would break camp and follow it. And wherever the cloud settled, the people of Israel would set up camp. ¹⁸ In this way, they traveled and camped at the Lord’s command wherever he told them to go. Then they remained in their camp as long as the cloud stayed over the Tabernacle. ¹⁹ If the cloud remained over the Tabernacle for a long time, the Israelites stayed and performed their duty to the Lord. ²⁰ Sometimes the cloud would stay over the Tabernacle for only a few days, so the people would stay for only a few days, as the Lord commanded. Then at the Lord’s command they would break camp and move on. ²¹ Sometimes the cloud stayed only overnight and lifted the next morning. But day or night, when the cloud lifted, the people broke camp and moved on. ²² Whether the cloud stayed above the Tabernacle for two days, a month, or a year, the people of Israel stayed in camp and did not move on. But as soon as it lifted, they broke camp and moved on. ²³ So they camped or traveled at the Lord’s command, and they did whatever the Lord told them through Moses.

25 So on January 15,^[a] during the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon led his entire army against Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and built siege ramps against its walls. ² Jerusalem was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah’s reign.

³ By July 18 in the eleventh year of Zedekiah’s reign,^[b] the famine in the city had become very severe, and the last of the food was entirely gone. ⁴ Then a section of the city wall was broken down. Since the city was surrounded by the Babylonians,^[c] the soldiers waited for nightfall and escaped^[d] through the gate between the two walls behind the king’s garden. Then they headed toward the Jordan Valley.^[e]

⁵ But the Babylonian^[f] troops chased the king and overtook him on the plains of Jericho, for his men had all deserted him and scattered. ⁶ They captured the king and took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where they pronounced judgment upon Zedekiah. ⁷ They made Zedekiah watch as they slaughtered his sons. Then they gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him in bronze chains, and led him away to Babylon.

The Temple Destroyed

⁸ On August 14 of that year,^[g] which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard and an official of the Babylonian king, arrived in Jerusalem. ⁹ He burned down the Temple of the Lord, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He destroyed all the important buildings^[h] in the city. ¹⁰ Then he supervised the entire Babylonian army as they tore down the walls of Jerusalem on every side. ¹¹ Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took as exiles the rest of the people who remained in the city, the defectors who had declared their allegiance to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the population. ¹² But the captain of the guard allowed some of the poorest people to stay behind to care for the vineyards and fields.

¹³ The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars in front of the Lord’s Temple, the bronze water carts, and the great bronze basin called the Sea, and they carried all the bronze away to Babylon. ¹⁴ They also took all the ash buckets, shovels, lamp snuffers, ladles, and all the other bronze articles used for making sacrifices at the Temple. ¹⁵ The captain of the guard also took the incense burners and basins, and all the other articles made of pure gold or silver.

¹⁶ The weight of the bronze from the two pillars, the Sea, and the water carts was too great to be measured. These things had been made for the Lord’s Temple in the days of Solomon. ¹⁷ Each of the pillars was 27 feet^[i] tall. The bronze capital on top of each pillar was 7 1⁄2 feet^[j] high and was decorated with a network of bronze pomegranates all the way around.

¹⁸ Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took with him as prisoners Seraiah the high priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the three chief gatekeepers. ¹⁹ And from among the people still hiding in the city, he took an officer who had been in charge of the Judean army; five of the king’s personal advisers; the army commander’s chief secretary, who was in charge of recruitment; and sixty other citizens. ²⁰ Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them all to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²¹ And there at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon had them all put to death. So the people of Judah were sent into exile from their land.

Gedaliah Governs in Judah

²² Then King Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan as governor over the people he had left in Judah. ²³ When all the army commanders and their men learned that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they went to see him at Mizpah. These included Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jezaniah^[k] son of the Maacathite, and all their men.

²⁴ Gedaliah vowed to them that the Babylonian officials meant them no harm. “Don’t be afraid of them. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and all will go well for you,” he promised.

²⁵ But in midautumn of that year,^[l] Ishmael son of Nethaniah and grandson of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family, went to Mizpah with ten men and killed Gedaliah. He also killed all the Judeans and Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah.

²⁶ Then all the people of Judah, from the least to the greatest, as well as the army commanders, fled in panic to Egypt, for they were afraid of what the Babylonians would do to them.

Hope for Israel’s Royal Line

²⁷ In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, Evil-merodach ascended to the Babylonian throne. He was kind to^[m] Jehoiachin and released him^[n] from prison on April 2 of that year.^{[o] 28} He spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and gave him a higher place than all the other exiled kings in Babylon. ²⁹ He supplied Jehoiachin with new clothes to replace his prison garb and allowed him to dine in the king’s presence for the rest of his life. ³⁰ So the king gave him a regular food allowance as long as he lived.

Living to Please Others

15 We who are strong must be considerate of those who are sensitive about things like this. We must not just please ourselves. ² We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord. ³ For even Christ didn’t live to please himself. As the Scriptures say, “The insults of those who insult you, O God, have fallen on me.”^{[a] 4} Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. And the Scriptures give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.

⁵ May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. ⁶ Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁷ Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory. ⁸ Remember that Christ came as a servant to the Jews^[b] to show that God is true to the promises he made to their ancestors. ⁹ He also came so that the Gentiles might give glory to God for his mercies to them. That is what the psalmist meant when he wrote:

¹⁰ And in another place it is written,

¹¹ And yet again,

¹² And in another place Isaiah said,

¹³ I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Paul’s Reason for Writing

¹⁴ I am fully convinced, my dear brothers and sisters,^[h] that you are full of goodness. You know these things so well you can teach each other all about them. ¹⁵ Even so, I have been bold enough to write about some of these points, knowing that all you need is this reminder. For by God’s grace, ¹⁶ I am a special messenger from Christ Jesus to you Gentiles. I bring you the Good News so that I might present you as an acceptable offering to God, made holy by the Holy Spirit. ¹⁷ So I have reason to be enthusiastic about all Christ Jesus has done through me in my service to God. ¹⁸ Yet I dare not boast about anything except what Christ has done through me, bringing the Gentiles to God by my message and by the way I worked among them. ¹⁹ They were convinced by the power of miraculous signs and wonders and by the power of God’s Spirit.^[i] In this way, I have fully presented the Good News of Christ from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum.^[j]

²⁰ My ambition has always been to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard, rather than where a church has already been started by someone else. ²¹ I have been following the plan spoken of in the Scriptures, where it says,

²² In fact, my visit to you has been delayed so long because I have been preaching in these places.

Paul’s Travel Plans

²³ But now I have finished my work in these regions, and after all these long years of waiting, I am eager to visit you. ²⁴ I am planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off in Rome. And after I have enjoyed your fellowship for a little while, you can provide for my journey.

²⁵ But before I come, I must go to Jerusalem to take a gift to the believers^[l] there. ²⁶ For you see, the believers in Macedonia and Achaia^[m] have eagerly taken up an offering for the poor among the believers in Jerusalem. ²⁷ They were glad to do this because they feel they owe a real debt to them. Since the Gentiles received the spiritual blessings of the Good News from the believers in Jerusalem, they feel the least they can do in return is to help them financially. ²⁸ As soon as I have delivered this money and completed this good deed of theirs, I will come to see you on my way to Spain. ²⁹ And I am sure that when I come, Christ will richly bless our time together.

³⁰ Dear brothers and sisters, I urge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to join in my struggle by praying to God for me. Do this because of your love for me, given to you by the Holy Spirit. ³¹ Pray that I will be rescued from those in Judea who refuse to obey God. Pray also that the believers there will be willing to accept the donation^[n] I am taking to Jerusalem. ³² Then, by the will of God, I will be able to come to you with a joyful heart, and we will be an encouragement to each other.

³³ And now may God, who gives us his peace, be with you all. Amen.^[o]

Psalm 138

A psalm of David.