M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

King Nebuchadnezzar attacks Judah

24 While Jehoiakim was king, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Judah. Jehoiakim was under Nebuchadnezzar's authority for three years. But then Jehoiakim turned against Nebuchadnezzar. ² The Lord sent groups of soldiers to attack towns in Judah. The soldiers came from Babylon, Syria, Moab and Ammon. The Lord sent them to destroy Judah. He had already sent his servants, the prophets, to warn the people of Judah about this. ³ The Lord had said that these things must happen. He had decided to send Judah away from himself because of the sins that King Manasseh had done. ⁴ Manasseh had murdered people who had not done anything wrong. Their blood was in the streets of Jerusalem. The Lord would not agree to forgive Manasseh for his sins.

⁵ The other things that happened while Jehoiakim was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about the things that Jehoiakim did. ⁶ Jehoiakim died and they buried him beside his ancestors. His son Jehoiachin became king after him.

⁷ The king of Egypt did not take his army out of his own country again. That was because the king of Babylon had taken a lot of Egypt's land for himself. He had taken all the land between the Stream of Egypt and the River Euphrates. Before that, the king of Egypt had authority over that land.

⁸ Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he became king. He ruled as king in Jerusalem for three months. His mother's name was Nehushta. She was the daughter of Elnathan, who came from Jerusalem. ⁹ Jehoiachin did things that the Lord said were evil, as his father had done.

¹⁰ King Nebuchadnezzar's officers took their army to attack Jerusalem. They made their camp all around the city. ¹¹ Then King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up to Jerusalem himself while his officers were there.

¹² Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, went out of the city to put himself under King Nebuchadnezzar's authority. He went with his mother, his servants, his leaders and his palace officers. In the eighth year that King Nebuchadnezzar ruled as king, he made Jehoiachin his prisoner.

¹³ King Nebuchadnezzar took all the valuable things from the Lord's temple and from the king's palace. He cut away all the gold things that King Solomon had made for the Lord's temple. The Lord had already warned that this would happen. ¹⁴ Nebuchadnezzar took away as his prisoners all the people who lived in Jerusalem. There were 10,000 people. They included all the officers and all the soldiers. He also took away the people who had special skills to work with wood and metal. The only people who remained in Judah were the very poor people.

¹⁵ Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin away from Jerusalem as his prisoner to Babylon. He also took the king's mother, his wives, his officers and the important leaders of Judah. ¹⁶ The king of Babylon also took away to Babylon all the soldiers of Judah's army. There were 7,000 soldiers. They included the best fighters. He also took 1,000 workers who had special skills to make things with wood and metal. ¹⁷ Nebuchadnezzar chose Jehoiachin's uncle, Mattaniah, to be king instead of Jehoiachin. Nebuchadnezzar changed Mattaniah's name to Zedekiah.

¹⁸ Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 11 years. His mother's name was Hamutal. She was the daughter of Jeremiah, who came from Libnah. ¹⁹ Zedekiah did things that the Lord said were evil, as Jehoiakim had done.

²⁰ All this trouble happened to Jerusalem and to Judah because the Lord was very angry with them. In the end, the Lord sent them away from himself.

This is what happened when King Zedekiah turned against the king of Babylon.

6 So we must go on from the first lessons that we learned about Christ. We must grow as believers so that we understand more and more. We should not go back to those first lessons again and again. We already know that we must turn away from wrong things that lead to death. We know that we must trust God. ² We have already learned about how to become clean.^[a] We know that leaders put their hands on other Christians to pray for God's help.^[b] We know that God will raise dead people to live again. And we know that God will judge every person one day at the end of time.

³ Yes, we must choose to go on from those early lessons! God is ready to help us to do that.

We must not turn away from Jesus

⁴ That is important, because we must not turn away from Christ, after we have first believed in him. Some people have come into God's light. They have understood God's message. They have started to enjoy the true life that God has given them. They have received the Holy Spirit, like other believers. ⁵ They have understood that God's message is good for them. They have seen powerful things that belong to the future time. ⁶ But after all that, they have turned against God. Then it is impossible for anyone to help them to turn away from their sins again. It is like they are killing the Son of God on the cross again for themselves. They show other people that they do not think Christ is important.

⁷ Think about a field where rain has fallen many times. That ground helps the plants in it to grow well. As a result, the farmer receives good things. It shows that God has blessed that ground. ⁸ But a field where only weeds and thorn bushes grow is worth nothing. God will very soon speak against that ground. In the end, fire will burn all of it.

⁹ We are telling you this, our good friends, because we want you to continue well. We are sure that God has saved you and that he will continue to bless you. ¹⁰ God is always right and fair. He will not forget all the good things that you have done. You have shown that you love him very much, because you have helped the other believers. And you continue to help them as God's servants. ¹¹ But we very much want each of you to continue to trust God to the end. Show that you really want to serve him. Be sure that, in the end, you will receive all the good things that you hope for. ¹² Then you will not be slow to learn. Instead, you will copy the example of those people who continue to trust God. They continue to be patient when trouble happens to them. People like that receive what God has promised to his people.

God's promise to Abraham

¹³ God made a promise to Abraham many years ago. God used the authority of his own name to show that his promise was true. He did that because there was nobody greater than God himself. His name showed that the promise was very serious. ¹⁴ God said to Abraham, ‘I will certainly bless you. I will give you many children and many, many grandchildren.’ ¹⁵ Abraham waited patiently for a long time. In the end, he received what God had promised to give him.^[c]

¹⁶ When someone makes a strong promise, he uses the authority of a person who is greater than himself. This shows that he will certainly obey his promise. Then nobody can argue about it. ¹⁷ God wanted to show very clearly that he would never change his purpose. He wanted his people to know that he would certainly bless them. So when he made this promise, he also used his own name to make it strong. ¹⁸ Those two things can never change. God cannot tell a lie. As a result, we can be brave and strong. We have trusted God to keep us safe with him. We should also expect to receive the good things that he has promised to give us.

¹⁹ We can be completely sure about those good things that we hope to receive. That keeps our thoughts strong, because we know that our life is safe with God. It is like an anchor that keeps a ship safe.^[d] When we hope like that, we know that we will one day arrive in God's special place in heaven. That is like the special place behind the curtain in the tabernacle. ²⁰ Jesus has already gone in there. He has gone there before us, on our behalf. He has become our special priest for ever, in the same way that Melchizedek was God's priest.^[e]

The Lord judges the nations

⁴ You people in Tyre, Sidon, and of all the land of the people called Philistines, listen. You cannot say that I have done anything wrong. You want to punish me. If you do this, I will soon do the same to you. ⁵ You took my silver and my gold, and you put all my riches in your temples. ⁶ You sold the people from Judah and Jerusalem to the Greek people. You wanted to send them a long way from their own country. ⁷ Now I will bring them back from the places to which you sold them. I will do to you what you have done to them. ⁸ I will sell your sons and daughters to the people in Judah. And they will sell them to the people called Sabeans, who live far away. I, the Lord, have spoken.’

⁹ Tell this news to the people in all the countries:

God will bless his people

This is a song that David wrote.

Please help me, Lord!^[a]