Old/New Testament

Jehoiakim Serves Nebuchadnezzar

24 During his lifetime, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Jehoiakim, who became his vassal for three years, after which he turned against Nebuchadnezzar^[a] and rebelled. ² The Lord sent raiding parties from the Chaldeans, Arameans, Moabites, and Ammonites against Jehoiakim. He sent them against Judah to destroy it, in keeping with the message from the Lord that he had spoken through his servants, the prophets. ³ It was truly by the command of the Lord against Judah that it came, in order to remove them from his sight, because of every sin that Manasseh had committed, ⁴ as well as for the innocent blood that he had shed. He had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord would not forgive them.^{[b] 5} Now the rest of Jehoiakim’s actions, and everything that he undertook, are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, are they not? ⁶ Jehoiakim died, as did^[c] his ancestors, and his son Jehoiachin became king in his place. ⁷ The king of Egypt did not leave his territory again, because the king of Babylon had taken everything that belonged to the king of Egypt from the Wadi^[d] of Egypt to the Euphrates River.

Jehoiachin Becomes King

⁸ Jehoiachin became king at the age of eighteen years, and he reigned for three months in Jerusalem. His mother was named Hausa. She was the daughter of Elzaphan of Jerusalem. ⁹ He practiced what the Lord considered to be evil, just as his ancestors had done. ¹⁰ At that time, the servants of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Jerusalem and the city was placed under siege. ¹¹ King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up against the city, along with his servants, who besieged it. ¹² King Jehoiachin of Judah surrendered to the king of Babylon (as did his mother, his servants, his princes, and his officers) during the eighth year of his reign.

Jerusalem’s Citizens are Sent into Exile

¹³ Nebuchadnezzar^[e] carried off from there all of the treasures of the Lord’s Temple, along with the treasures in the king’s palace. He cut into pieces all the gold vessels in the Lord’s Temple that King Solomon of Israel had made, just as the Lord had said would happen.^{[f] 14} Then Nebuchadnezzar sent away into exile all of Jerusalem—all the captains, all the valiant soldiers, 10,000 captives, and all of the craftsmen and ironworkers. Nobody remained except the poorest people of the land. ¹⁵ He sent Jehoiachin into exile to Babylon, along with the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officials, and the leading men of the land. He took them into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. ¹⁶ All 7,000 of the most valiant soldiers and 1,000 of the craftsmen and ironworkers—all physically fit and trained for battle—were brought by the king of Babylon into exile in Babylon.

Zedekiah is Installed as King

¹⁷ The king of Babylon installed Jehoiachin’s^[g] uncle Mattaniah as king in his place and then changed his name to Zedekiah. ¹⁸ Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king. He reigned for eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother was named Hamutal. She was the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. ¹⁹ Zedekiah practiced what the Lord considered to be evil, just as Jehoiakim had done, ²⁰ because through the Lord’s anger these things happened^[h] to Jerusalem and Judah until he threw them from his presence.

Nebuchadnezzar Captures Jerusalem

²⁰ Zedekiah then rebelled against the king of Babylon, 25 ¹ so on the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah’s^[i] reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his entire army approached Jerusalem, attacked it, encamped against it, and built a siege wall that surrounded the city. ² The city remained under siege until the eleventh year of the reign of^[j] King Zedekiah. ³ By the ninth day of the fourth^[k] month, the resulting^[l] famine had become so severe in the city that no food remained for the people who lived in the land. ⁴ The city was breached, and the entire army left during the night through the gate that stood between the two walls beside the royal garden, even though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city. They escaped through the Arabah, ⁵ but the Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook him in the Jericho plains, where his entire army was scattered. ⁶ The Chaldeans captured the king and brought him to Riblah, where the king of Babylon determined his sentence. ⁷ They executed Zedekiah’s sons in his presence, blinded Zedekiah, bound him with bronze chains, and transported him to Babylon.

Jerusalem is Burned and the Temple Demolished

⁸ On the seventh^[m] day of the fifth month, which was during the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar’s reign as king of Babylon, captain of the guard Nebuzaradan, a servant of the king of Babylon, arrived in Jerusalem ⁹ and set fire to the Lord’s Temple, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He even incinerated the lavish^[n] homes. ¹⁰ The Chaldean army that accompanied the captain of the guard demolished the walls that surrounded Jerusalem. ¹¹ Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, carried the survivors of the people who remained in the city, those who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the multitude into exile. ¹² However, the captain of the guard left some of the poor people of the land to work as vinedressers and farmers.

¹³ The Chaldeans also broke into pieces and carried back to Babylon the bronze pillars that stood in the Lord’s Temple, along with the stands and the bronze sea^[o] that used to be in the Lord’s Temple. ¹⁴ They also confiscated^[p] the pots, shovels, snuffers, spoons, and the rest of the bronze vessels that were used in ministry. ¹⁵ The captain of the guard also confiscated^[q] the fire pans, basins, and whatever had been crafted of pure gold and pure silver. ¹⁶ The bronze contained in the two pillars, the one sea, and the stands that Solomon had crafted for the Lord’s Temple could not be inventoried for weight. ¹⁷ The height of one of the pillars was eighteen cubits,^[r] and the capital on top of it was three cubits^[s] high.^[t] A latticework carved in the form of pomegranates encircled the capital, crafted completely out of brass. The second pillar was identical to the first.^[u]

Judah’s Leaders are Executed

¹⁸ The captain of the guard arrested Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, three temple officials,^{[v] 19} one overseer from the city who supervised the soldiers, five of the king’s advisors who had been discovered in the city, the scribe who served the army captain who mustered the army of the land, and 60 men of the land who were discovered in the city. ²⁰ Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them to the king of Babylon at Riblah, ²¹ where the king of Babylon executed them in the land of Hamath. And so Judah was transported into exile from the land.

Gedaliah is Appointed Governor

²² Now as for the people who remained in the land of Judah whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had left behind, he appointed Ahikam’s son Gedaliah, the grandson of Shaphan, to rule. ²³ When all the captains of the armies, along with their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, these men visited Gedaliah at Mizpah: Nethaniah’s son Ishmael, Kareah’s son Johanan, Tanhumeth the Netophathite’s son Seraiah, and Jaazaniah, who was descended from the Maacathites. ²⁴ Gedaliah made this promise to them and to their men: “Don’t be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and things will go well with you.” ²⁵ Nevertheless, seven months later, Nethaniah’s son Ishmael, the grandson of Elishama from the royal family, came with ten men and attacked Gedaliah. As a result, he died along with the Jews and Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. ²⁶ Then all the people, including those who were insignificant and those who were important, fled with the captains of the armed forces to Egypt, because they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

Jehoiachin Leaves Prison

²⁷ Later on, after King Jehoiachin of Judah had been in exile for 37 years, on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month, during the first year of his reign, King Evil-merodach of Babylon released King Jehoiachin of Judah from prison. ²⁸ He spoke kindly to him and elevated his position^[w] above the thrones of the kings with him in Babylon. ²⁹ Jehoiachin changed out of his prison clothes and had regular meals in the king’s presence every day for the rest of his life, ³⁰ and a regular stipend was provided to him by the king in accordance with his needs for as long as he lived.

The Healing at the Pool

5 Later on, there was another^[a] festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ² Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem is a pool called Bethesda^[b] in Hebrew. It has five colonnades, ³ and under these a large number of sick people were lying—blind, lame, or paralyzed—waiting for the movement of the water.^{[c] 4} At certain times an angel of the Lord would go down into the pool and stir up the water, and whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had.^[d]

⁵ One particular man was there who had been ill for 38 years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷ The sick man answered him, “Sir, I don’t have anyone to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I’m trying to get there, someone else steps down ahead of me.”

⁸ Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” ⁹ The man immediately became well, and he picked up his mat and started walking. Now that day was a Sabbath.

¹⁰ So the Jewish leaders^[e] told the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.

¹¹ But he answered them, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”

¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who told you, ‘Pick it up and walk’?”

¹³ But the one who had been healed did not know who it was, because Jesus had slipped away from the crowd in that place. ¹⁴ Later on, Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Look! You have become well. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went off and told the Jewish leaders^[f] that it was Jesus who had made him well. ¹⁶ So the Jewish leaders^[g] began persecuting Jesus,^[h] because he kept doing such things on the Sabbath.

¹⁷ But Jesus^[i] answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I, too, am working.” ¹⁸ So the Jewish leaders^[j] were trying all the harder to kill him, because he was not only breaking the Sabbath but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.

The Authority of the Son

¹⁹ Jesus told them, “Truly, I tell all of you^[k] emphatically, the Son can do nothing on his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing, What the Father does, the Son does likewise. ²⁰ The Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing, and he will show him even greater actions than these, so that you may be amazed. ²¹ Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to those he chooses. ²² The Father judges no one, but has given all authority to judge to the Son, ²³ so that everyone may honor the Son as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

²⁴ “Truly, I tell all of you^[l] emphatically, whoever hears what I say and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged, but has passed from death to life.