2 Kings 24–25
1 In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him. 2 The Lord sent against him bands of Chaldeans, bands of Arameans, bands of Moabites, and bands of Ammonites. He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord that He spoke by His servants the prophets. 3 Surely at the decree of the Lord this came upon Judah, to remove them from before Him, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, 4 and also for the innocent blood that he had shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to pardon.
5 Now the rest of the deeds of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 6 So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.
7 The king of Egypt did not come again from his land, for the king of Babylon had taken over from the Brook of Egypt to the River Euphrates all that belonged to the king of Egypt.
8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king. He reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. 9 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done.
10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was under siege. 11 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to the city while his servants were besieging it, 12 and Jehoiachin king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, his mother, his servants, his princes, and his eunuchs. The king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.
13 He brought out from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the implements of gold in the temple of the Lord, which Solomon king of Israel had made, just as the Lord had spoken. 14 He exiled all Jerusalem, all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths. No one remained, except the poorest people of the land.
15 He exiled Jehoiachin in Babylon. The king’s mother, the king’s wives, his eunuchs, and the elite of the land he took into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16 All the fighting men, seven thousand, the craftsmen and smiths, one thousand, all those strong and fit for war the king of Babylon brought them into exile in Babylon. 17 The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, the uncle of Jehoiachin, king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah.
18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king. He reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 19 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 20 Because of the anger of the Lord this happened in Jerusalem and Judah until He threw them out from His presence. But Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
Chapter 25
1 In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and set up camp near it. They built siege mounds against it all around. 2 The city came under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 3 On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was severe in the city, and there was no food for the people of the land. 4 The city was breached, and all the fighting men fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which is by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. They went along the way of the Arabah. 5 Then the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his army deserted him. 6 So they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they passed sentence upon him. 7 They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah. They bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon.
8 In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month (that was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan, the captain of the bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 He burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every great house he burned with fire. 10 All the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard tore down the walls of Jerusalem all around. 11 The rest of the people who remained in the city, the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the crowd Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard took into exile. 12 But the captain of the bodyguard left some of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and farmers.
13 The bronze pillars that were in the house of the Lord, the stands, and the bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried their bronze to Babylon. 14 The pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the incense bowls, and all the bronze implements which were used in service they took away. 15 The fire pans and sprinkling basins that were fine gold and fine silver the captain of the bodyguard took.
16 The two pillars, the one sea, and the stands, which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord—the bronze of all these implements was beyond weight. 17 The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a bronze capital was on it. The height of the capital was three cubits. Latticework and pomegranates, all of bronze, were on the capital all around. The second pillar with its latticework was like it.
18 The captain of the bodyguard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold. 19 From the city he took a eunuch who was an officer over the fighting men, five men of the king’s council who were found in the city, the chief scribe of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men from the people of the land who were found in the city. 20 Nebuzaradan captain of the bodyguard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 21 Then the king of Babylon struck them down and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath.
Thus he exiled Judah from their land.
22 Over the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, he appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan. 23 When all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, that is, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maakathite, they and their men. 24 Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and said to them, “Do not be afraid of being the servants of the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well for you.”
25 But in the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal line, came with ten men and struck down Gedaliah. He died along with the Judeans and Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. 26 Then all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies arose and went to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.
27 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Awel-Marduk king of Babylon, in the year that he became king, released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. 28 He spoke kindly to him, and gave him a throne above the thrones of the kings that were with him in Babylon. 29 He changed his prison garments, and he ate food continually before him all the days of his life. 30 His allowance was a regular allowance given him by the king every day, all the days of his life.
John 5:1–23
1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, which in Hebrew is called Bethesda, having five porches. 3 In these lay a great crowd of invalids, blind, lame, and paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water. After the stirring of the water, whoever stepped in first was healed of whatever disease he had. 5 A certain man was there who had an illness for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had been in that condition now a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”
7 The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred. But while I am coming, another steps down before me.”
8 Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” 9 Immediately the man was healed, took up his bed, and walked.
That day was the Sabbath. 10 The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath day. It is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”
11 He answered them, “He who healed me said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’”
12 So they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”
13 Now the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in that place.
14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have become whole. Sin no more lest something worse happens to you.” 15 The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.
16 So the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath day. 17 Jesus answered them, “My Father is working still, and I am working.” 18 So the Jews sought even more to kill Him, because He not only had broken the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
19 Then Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do. For whatever He does, likewise the Son does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself does. And He will show Him greater works than these so that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. 22 The Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, 23 that all men should honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.”