Old/New Testament
24 While Jehoiakim was king, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked the land of Judah. So Jehoiakim became Nebuchadnezzar’s servant for three years. Then Jehoiakim turned against Nebuchadnezzar. And he broke away from his rule. 2 The Lord sent men from Babylon, Aram, Moab and Ammon against Jehoiakim. He sent them to destroy Judah. This happened the way the Lord had said it would through his servants the prophets.
3 The Lord commanded this to happen to the people of Judah. He did it to remove them from his presence. This was because of all the sins Manasseh had done. 4 He had killed many innocent people. He had filled Jerusalem with their blood. And the Lord would not forgive these sins.
5 The other things that happened while Jehoiakim was king and all he did are written down. They are in the book of the history of the kings of Judah. 6 Jehoiakim died, and his son Jehoiachin became king in his place.
7 The king of Egypt did not come out of his land again. This was because of the king of Babylon. He had captured all that belonged to the king of Egypt. He took all the land from the brook of Egypt to the Euphrates River.
Jehoiachin King of Judah
8 Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he became king. He was king three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan. She was from Jerusalem. 9 Jehoiachin did what the Lord said was wrong, just as his father had done.
10 At that time the officers of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and attacked it. 11 Nebuchadnezzar himself came to the city while his officers were attacking it. 12 Jehoiachin king of Judah surrendered to the king of Babylon. Jehoiachin’s mother, servants, elders and officers also surrendered. Then the king of Babylon made Jehoiachin a prisoner. This was in the eighth year Nebuchadnezzar was king. 13 Nebuchadnezzar took all the treasures from the Temple of the Lord. He also removed the treasures from the palace. He took all the gold objects Solomon king of Israel had made for the Temple. This happened as the Lord had said it would. 14 Nebuchadnezzar took away all the people of Jerusalem. This included all the leaders and all the wealthy people. He also took all the craftsmen and metal workers. There were 10,000 prisoners in all. Only the poorest people in the land were left. 15 Nebuchadnezzar carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon. He took the king’s mother and his wives. He also took the officers and leading men of the land. They were taken captive from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16 The king of Babylon also took all 7,000 soldiers. These men were all strong and able to fight in war. And 1,000 craftsmen and metal workers were taken, too. Nebuchadnezzar took them as prisoners to Babylon. 17 He made Mattaniah king in Jehoiachin’s place. Mattaniah was Jehoiachin’s uncle. He also changed Mattaniah’s name to Zedekiah.
Zedekiah King of Judah
18 Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king. And he was king in Jerusalem for 11 years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah.[a] She was from Libnah. 19 Zedekiah did what the Lord said was wrong, just as Jehoiakim had done. 20 All this happened in Jerusalem and Judah because the Lord was angry with them. Finally, he threw them out of his presence.
The Fall of Jerusalem
Zedekiah turned against the king of Babylon.
25 Then Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. This happened during Zedekiah’s ninth year, tenth month and tenth day as king. He made a camp around the city. Then he built devices all around the city walls to attack it. 2 The city was under attack until Zedekiah’s eleventh year as king. 3 By the ninth day of the fourth month, the hunger was terrible in the city. There was no food for the people to eat. 4 Then the city wall was broken through. And the whole army ran away at night. They went through the gate between the two walls by the king’s garden. The Babylonians were still surrounding the city. Zedekiah and his men ran toward the Jordan Valley. 5 But the Babylonian army chased King Zedekiah. They caught up with him in the plains of Jericho. All of his army was scattered from him. 6 So they captured Zedekiah and took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah. There he passed sentence on Zedekiah. 7 They killed Zedekiah’s sons as he watched. Then they put out his eyes. They put bronze chains on him and took him to Babylon.
8 Nebuzaradan was the commander of the king’s special guards. This officer of the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem. This was on the seventh day of the fifth month. This was in Nebuchadnezzar’s nineteenth year as king of Babylon. 9 Nebuzaradan set fire to the Temple of the Lord and the palace. He also set fire to all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building was burned.
10 The whole Babylonian army broke down the walls around Jerusalem. That army was led by the commander of the king’s special guards. 11 Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, took captive the people left in Jerusalem. And he took captive those who had surrendered to the king of Babylon. The rest of the people were also taken away. 12 But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land. They were to take care of the vineyards and fields.
13 The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the bronze stands and the large bronze bowl, which was called the Sea. These were in the Temple of the Lord. Then they carried the bronze to Babylon. 14 They also took the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes and all the bronze objects. These were used to serve in the Temple. 15 The commander of the king’s special guards took away the pans for carrying hot coals. He also took the bowls and everything made of pure gold or silver. 16 There was so much bronze that it could not be weighed. There were two pillars and the large bronze bowl. There were also the movable stands which Solomon had made for the Temple of the Lord. 17 Each pillar was about 27 feet high. The bronze capital on top of the pillar was about 4½ feet high. It was decorated with a net design and bronze pomegranates all around it. The other pillar also had a net design. It was like the first pillar.
Judah Is Taken Prisoner
18 The commander of the guards took some prisoners. He took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank, and the three doorkeepers. 19 The commander also took other people who were still in the city. He took the officer in charge of the fighting men. He also took five people who advised the king. And he took the royal assistant who selected people for the army. And he took 60 other men who were in the city. 20 Nebuzaradan, the commander, took all these people. And he brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 21 There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them killed. So the people of Judah were led away from their country as captives.
Gedaliah Becomes Governor
22 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon left some people in the land of Judah. He appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam as governor. (Ahikam was the son of Shaphan.)
23 The army captains and their men heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor. So they all came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. They were Ishmael son of Nethaniah and Johanan son of Kareah. Also there were Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite and their men. 24 Then Gedaliah made promises to these army captains and their men. He said, “Don’t be afraid of the Babylonian officers. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon. Then everything will go well for you.”
25 Ishmael was the son of Nethaniah. Nethaniah was the son of Elishama from the king’s family. In the seventh month Ishmael came with ten men and killed Gedaliah. They also killed the men of Judah and Babylon who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah. 26 Then all the people, from the least important to the most important, ran away to Egypt. The army leaders also went. This was because they were afraid of the Babylonians.
Jehoiachin Is Set Free
27 Jehoiachin king of Judah was held in Babylon for 37 years. In the thirty-seventh year Evil-Merodach became king of Babylon. He let Jehoiachin out of prison on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month. 28 Evil-Merodach spoke kindly to Jehoiachin. He gave Jehoiachin a seat of honor. It was above the seats of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. 29 So Jehoiachin put away his prison clothes. For the rest of his life, he ate at the king’s table. 30 Every day the king gave Jehoiachin an allowance. This lasted as long as he lived.
Jesus Heals a Man at a Pool
5 Later Jesus went to Jerusalem for a special Jewish feast. 2 In Jerusalem there is a pool with five covered porches. In the Jewish language[a] it is called Bethzatha.[b] This pool is near the Sheep Gate. 3 Many sick people were lying on the porches beside the pool. Some were blind, some were crippled, and some were paralyzed [and they waited for the water to move. 4 Sometimes an angel of the Lord came down to the pool and stirred up the water. After the angel did this, the first person to go into the pool was healed from any sickness he had].[c] 5 There was a man lying there who had been sick for 38 years. 6 Jesus saw the man and knew that he had been sick for a very long time. So Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be well?”
7 The sick man answered, “Sir, there is no one to help me get into the pool when the water starts moving. I try to be the first one into the water. But when I try, someone else always goes in before I can.”
8 Then Jesus said, “Stand up. Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 And immediately the man was well. He picked up his mat and began to walk.
The day all this happened was a Sabbath day. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “Today is the Sabbath. It is against our law for you to carry your mat on the Sabbath day.”
11 But he answered, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”
12 Then they asked him, “Who is the man who told you to pick up your mat and walk?”
13 But the man who had been healed did not know who it was. There were many people in that place, and Jesus had left.
14 Later, Jesus found the man at the Temple. Jesus said to him, “See, you are well now. But stop sinning or something worse may happen to you!”
15 Then the man left and went back to the Jews. He told them that Jesus was the one who had made him well.
16 Jesus was doing this on the Sabbath day. So the Jews began to do bad things to him. 17 But Jesus said to them, “My Father never stops working. And so I work, too.”
18 This made the Jews try harder to kill him. They said, “First Jesus was breaking the law about the Sabbath day. Then he said that God is his own Father! He is making himself equal with God!”
Jesus Has God’s Authority
19 But Jesus said, “I tell you the truth. The Son can do nothing alone. The Son does only what he sees his Father doing. The Son does whatever the Father does. 20 The Father loves the Son, and the Father shows the Son all the things he himself does. But the Father will show the Son greater things than this to do. Then you will all be amazed. 21 The Father raises the dead and gives them life. In the same way, the Son gives life to those he wants to. 22 Also, the Father judges no one. But the Father has given the Son power to do all the judging. 23 God did this so that all people will respect the Son the same way they respect the Father. He who does not respect the Son does not respect the Father. The Father is the One who sent the Son.
24 “I tell you the truth. Whoever hears what I say and believes in the One who sent me has eternal life. He will not be judged guilty. He has already left death and has entered into life.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.