M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

24 It was in Y’hoyakim’s time that N’vukhadnetzar king of Bavel invaded. Y’hoyakim became his vassal for three years, but then he turned against him and rebelled. ² Adonai sent against him raiding parties from the Kasdim, Aram, Mo’av and the people of ‘Amon; he sent them against Y’hudah to destroy it, in keeping with the word of Adonai which he had spoken through his servants the prophets. ³ Yes, it was at Adonai’s order that this happened to Y’hudah, in order to remove them from his sight because of the sins of M’nasheh and all he had done, ⁴ and also because of the innocent blood he had shed — for he had flooded Yerushalayim with innocent blood, and Adonai was unwilling to forgive.

⁵ Other activities of Y’hoyakim and all his accomplishments are recorded in the Annals of the Kings of Y’hudah. ⁶ Then Y’hoyakim slept with his ancestors, and Y’hoyakhin his son took his place as king.

⁷ The king of Egypt did not leave his own land any more, because the king of Bavel had captured all the territory of the king of Egypt between the Vadi of Egypt and the Euphrates River.

⁸ Y’hoyakhin was eighteen years old when he began his reign, and he ruled in Yerushalayim for three months. His mother’s name was N’chushta the daughter of Elnatan, from Yerushalayim. ⁹ He did what was evil from Adonai’s perspective, following the example of everything his father had done.

¹⁰ It was then that the officers of N’vukhadnetzar king of Bavel marched on Yerushalayim and laid siege to the city. ¹¹ N’vukhadnetzar king of Bavel himself went to the city while it was under siege; ¹² and Y’hoyakhin king of Y’hudah went out to meet the king of Bavel — he, his mother, and his servants, princes and officers; and the king of Bavel took him captive in the eighth year of his reign. ¹³ He also carried away from there all the treasures in the house of Adonai and the treasures in the royal palace. He cut in pieces all the articles of gold which Shlomo king of Isra’el had made in the temple of Adonai, as Adonai had said would happen. ¹⁴ He carried all Yerushalayim away captive — all the princes, all the bravest soldiers — 10,000 captives; also all the craftsmen and metalworkers. No one was left but the poorest people of the land.

¹⁵ Y’hoyakhin he carried off to Bavel; likewise he carried off the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officers and the main leaders of the land from Yerushalayim into captivity in Bavel. ¹⁶ All the strong men — 7,000 of them, as well as 1,000 craftsmen and metalsmiths, all of them strong and trained for war — the king of Bavel brought captive to Bavel.

¹⁷ The king of Bavel made Matanyah, Y’hoyakhin’s father’s brother, king in place of Y’hoyakhin and changed his name to Tzidkiyahu. ¹⁸ Tzidkiyahu was twenty-one years old when he began to rule, and he ruled for eleven years in Yerushalayim. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Yirmeyahu, from Livnah. ¹⁹ He did what was evil from the perspective of Adonai, following the example of everything Y’hoyakim had done. ²⁰ And it was because of Adonai’s anger that all these things happened to Yerushalayim and Y’hudah, until he had thrown them out of his presence.

Tzidkiyahu rebelled against the king of Bavel;

6 Therefore, leaving behind the initial lessons about the Messiah, let us go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of turning from works that lead to death, trusting God, ² and instruction about washings, s’mikhah, the resurrection of the dead and eternal punishment. ³ And, God willing, this is what we will do.

⁴ For when people have once been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift, become sharers in the Ruach HaKodesh, ⁵ and tasted the goodness of God’s Word and the powers of the ‘olam haba — ⁶ and then have fallen away — it is impossible to renew them so that they turn from their sin, as long as for themselves they keep executing the Son of God on the stake all over again and keep holding him up to public contempt. ⁷ For the land that soaks up frequent rains and then brings forth a crop useful to its owners receives a blessing from God; ⁸ but if it keeps producing thorns and thistles, it fails the test and is close to being cursed;^[a] in the end, it will be burned.

⁹ Now even though we speak this way, dear friends, we are confident that you have the better things that come with being delivered. ¹⁰ For God is not so unfair as to forget your work and the love you showed for him in your past service to his people — and in your present service too. ¹¹ However, we want each one of you to keep showing the same diligence right up to the end, when your hope will be realized; ¹² so that you will not become sluggish, but will be imitators of those who by their trust and patience are receiving what has been promised.

¹³ For when God made his promise to Avraham, he swore an oath to do what he had promised; and since there was no one greater than himself for him to swear by, he swore by himself^{[b] 14} and said,

¹⁵ and so, after waiting patiently, Avraham saw the promise fulfilled. ¹⁶ Now people swear oaths by someone greater than themselves, and confirmation by an oath puts an end to all dispute. ¹⁷ Therefore, when God wanted to demonstrate still more convincingly the unchangeable character of his intentions to those who were to receive what he had promised, he added an oath to the promise; ¹⁸ so that through two unchangeable things, in neither of which God could lie, we, who have fled to take a firm hold on the hope set before us, would be strongly encouraged. ¹⁹ We have this hope as a sure and safe anchor for ourselves, a hope that goes right on through to what is inside the parokhet, ²⁰ where a forerunner has entered on our behalf, namely, Yeshua, who has become a cohen gadol forever, to be compared with Malki-Tzedek.^[d]