Old/New Testament

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.

King Nebuchadnezzar destroys Jerusalem

25 Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, marched with all his army to attack Jerusalem. He arrived on the 10th day of the 10th month, in the 9th year when Zedekiah had ruled Judah. His soldiers made their camp all around the city. They built heaps of earth all around Jerusalem's walls.^{[a] 2} Babylon's army stayed around the city until the 11th year that Zedekiah had been king. ³ By the 9th day of the 4th month, there was a very bad famine in the city. There was no food for the people to eat. ⁴ Then Babylon's army broke down Jerusalem's wall so that they could go into the city. Their soldiers were all around the city. So the king of Judah and all his army tried to escape in the night. They went through the gate that was near the king's garden. The path went between the two walls of the city. They ran towards the Jordan Valley. ⁵ But the soldiers of Babylon's army chased after the king. They caught him on the flat land near Jericho. All King Zedekiah's soldiers ran away from him in many directions.

⁶ Babylon's soldiers took hold of King Zedekiah. They took him to King Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah. Nebuchadnezzar decided how to punish Zedekiah. ⁷ They killed all Zedekiah's sons as their punishment, while Zedekiah watched. Then they cut out Zedekiah's eyes to make him blind. They tied him with chains and they took him to Babylon.

⁸ King Nebuchadnezzar had an officer whose name was Nebuzaradan. He was the captain of the king's royal guards. Nebuzaradan came to Jerusalem when Nebuchadnezzar had ruled Babylon for 19 years. It was on the 7th day of the 5th month. ⁹ Nebuzaradan destroyed the Lord's temple, the king's palace and all the other houses in Jerusalem. He burned them all with fire, so that he destroyed every important building in the city. ¹⁰ Then Nebuzaradan commanded his whole army to knock down the walls around Jerusalem. ¹¹ Captain Nebuzaradan sent away as prisoners all the people who remained in Jerusalem. He also sent away those people who had agreed to serve the king of Babylon and the workers who were still there. ¹² But Nebuzaradan let some of the poorest people stay there. He gave them vineyards and fields to work in.

¹³ The soldiers from Babylon broke the two bronze pillars that were in the Lord's temple. They also broke the carts which carried the buckets for water and the large bath called ‘the Sea’. They carried all the bronze pieces away to Babylon. ¹⁴ They also took away the pots, the spades, the small tools for the lamps, and the dishes. They took all the bronze tools that the priests used in the temple. ¹⁵ Nebuzaradan also took away the baskets that carried hot coals and the bowls for water. He took away everything that was made from gold or silver. ¹⁶ The bronze from the things that King Solomon had made for the Lord's temple was very heavy. They included the two bronze pillars, the large bath called ‘the Sea’ and the carts which carried the buckets for water.^[b] The bronze from all these things was more than they could weigh. ¹⁷ Each pillar was 8 metres high. The bronze piece on the top of one pillar was more than 1 metre high. It had rows of chains with images of pomegranates made from bronze all around it. The other pillar, with its rows of chains and pomegranates, was the same.

¹⁸ Captain Nebuzaradan took hold of these people:

¹⁹ He also took hold of these people who remained in Jerusalem:

²⁰ Nebuzaradan took hold of all those people. He brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah, in the Hamath region. ²¹ There, at Riblah, the king of Babylon commanded his soldiers to punish them all with death.

That was how Judah's people went into exile, away from their own land.

Gedaliah rules Judah

²² King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon chose Gedaliah, to have authority to rule the people who were still in Judah. Gedaliah was the son of Ahikam and the grandson of Shaphan.

²³ The officers of Judah's army and their men heard news that the king of Babylon had chosen Gedaliah to be the ruler of Judah. So they went to meet Gedaliah at Mizpah. The army officers were:

²⁴ Gedaliah promised that he would not hurt these officers or the men who were with them. He said to them, ‘Do not be afraid to serve the soldiers from Babylon. Make your homes here in our land, but agree to serve the king of Babylon. If you do that, you will be successful.’

²⁵ But in the seventh month of that year, Ishmael went to Mizpah with ten of his men. Ishmael was the son of Nethaniah and the grandson of Elishama, who belonged to the king's family. They murdered Gedaliah, and the other men who were with him in Mizpah. Some of those men were from Judah and some of them were from Babylon. ²⁶ When that happened, all the people of Judah ran away to Egypt. They included the army officers, as well as ordinary people and important people. They were all afraid that the people of Babylon would come to punish them.

²⁷ 37 years after King Jehoiachin of Judah had gone as a prisoner to Babylon, Evil-Merodach became the king of Babylon. On the 27th day of the 12th month, he took Jehoiachin out from his prison so that he became free. ²⁸ King Evil-Merodach spoke in a kind way to Jehoiachin. He gave him more honour than the other kings who were with him in Babylon. ²⁹ Jehoiachin no longer had to wear the clothes of a prisoner. Every day until he died, he ate a meal at the king's table in Babylon. ³⁰ The king of Babylon gave Jehoiachin everything that he needed each day for the rest of his life.

Jesus makes a man able to walk

5 Some time after that, Jesus went to Jerusalem, because it was time for one of the Jewish festivals.

² There is a pool near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem. Its name in the Jewish language is Bethesda. Round the pool, there is a building with five places that have a roof over them. ³ A large number of sick people were lying in these places. Some of them were blind. Some of them could not walk properly. Some of them could not move their legs or their arms. [^[a] They were waiting for when the water started to move. ⁴ An angel would go down into the pool at certain times and move the water about. When that happened, all the sick people tried to get into the pool. The first person who got into the water became well, whatever his illness was.]

⁵ One man who was lying there had been ill for 38 years. ⁶ Jesus saw this man. He knew that the man had been ill like this for a very long time. So he asked the man, ‘Do you want to get well?’ ⁷ The sick man said, ‘Sir, I do not have anyone who will help me. I need somebody who will put me into the pool. When the water starts to move, I try to get in. But someone else always gets in before me.’ ⁸ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up! Pick up your mat and walk.’ ⁹ The man became well immediately. He picked up his mat and he walked.

The day when this happened was a Jewish day of rest.^{[b] 10} Because of this, the Jewish leaders spoke to the man that Jesus had made well. They said to him, ‘You must not carry your mat on our day of rest. You are not obeying the rules.’ ¹¹ The man replied, ‘The man who made me well said to me, “Pick up your mat and walk.” ’ ¹² So they asked him, ‘Who is this man? Who said to you, “Pick up your mat and walk”?’ ¹³ The man did not know who had made him well. Jesus had gone away and joined the crowd that was there.

¹⁴ Some time after that, Jesus found the man in the temple. Jesus said to him, ‘See, you have become well. Stop doing wrong things. If you do not stop, something worse may happen to you.’ ¹⁵ Then the man went to the Jewish leaders. He told them that it was Jesus who had made him well. ¹⁶ The Jewish leaders were angry because Jesus had made a man well on their day of rest.^[c] As a result, they began to cause a lot of trouble for Jesus. ¹⁷ But Jesus said to them, ‘My Father is still working, and I too must work.’ ¹⁸ Because Jesus said this, the Jewish leaders became really angry. They wanted even more to kill him. Jesus not only worked on the day of rest. He was also calling God his own Father, so he was making himself equal with God.

¹⁹ Jesus answered them, ‘I tell you this: The Son can do nothing by himself. He sees what the Father does, and he can do only those same things. What the Father does, the Son also does. ²⁰ The Father loves the Son. He shows the Son all the things that he himself does. And the Father will show the Son even greater things to do than these. Those greater things will surprise you even more than what you have already seen. ²¹ The Father raises dead people to make them alive again. In the same way, the Son gives life to whoever he chooses. ²² More than that, the Father does not judge anyone. He has given authority to the Son, so that the Son will judge all people. ²³ Then all people will respect the Son as a great person. They will respect him in the way that they respect the Father. The Father sent the Son. So if people refuse to respect the Son, it shows that they do not respect the Father either.

²⁴ I tell you this: Everyone who hears my message should believe in the Father who sent me. If they believe in me, they will have life for ever with God. God will not say that they are guilty. They are no longer under the power of death. Instead, they have life with God.