Jerusalem Falls, Yet Faith Endures

1. In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him. 2. Yahweh sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to Yahweh’s word, which he spoke by his servants the prophets. 3. Surely at the commandment of Yahweh this came on Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did, 4. and also for the innocent blood that he shed; for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and Yahweh would not pardon. 5. Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, aren’t they written in the book of the chronicles 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 didn’t come out of his land any more; for the king of Babylon had taken, 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 began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. 9. He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, according to all that his father had done. 10. At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. 11. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it, 12. and Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers; and the king of Babylon captured him in the eighth year of his reign. 13. He carried out from there all the treasures of Yahweh’s house, and the treasures of the king’s house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold, which Solomon king of Israel had made in Yahweh’s temple, as Yahweh had said. 14. He carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. No one remained, except the poorest people of the land. 15. He carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, with the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officers, and the chief men of the land. He carried them into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16. All the men of might, even seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths one thousand, all of them strong and fit for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. 17. The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s father’s brother, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah. 18. Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 19. He did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. 20. For through the anger of Yahweh, this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. 1. In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it around it. 2. So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. 3. On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land. 4. Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king’s garden (now the Chaldeans were against the city around it); and the king went by the way of the Arabah. 5. But the Chaldean army pursued the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him. 6. Then they captured the king, and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they passed judgment on him. 7. They killed Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, then put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon. 8. Now in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9. He burned Yahweh’s house, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, he burned with fire. 10. All the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. 11. Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive the residue of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude. 12. But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to work the vineyards and fields. 13. The Chaldeans broke up the pillars of brass that were in Yahweh’s house and the bases and the bronze sea that were in Yahweh’s house, and carried the brass pieces to Babylon. 14. They took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered. 15. The captain of the guard took away the fire pans, the basins, that which was of gold, in gold, and that which was of silver, in silver. 16. The two pillars, the one sea, and the bases, which Solomon had made for Yahweh’s house, the brass of all these vessels was not weighed. 17. The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and a capital of brass was on it. The height of the capital was three cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital around it, all of brass; and the second pillar with its network was like these. 18. The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold; 19. and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war; and five men of those who saw the king’s face, who were found in the city; and the scribe, the captain of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the city. 20. Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah. 21. The king of Babylon attacked them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land. 22. As for the people who were left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor. 23. Now when all the captains of the forces, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of the Maacathite, they and their men. 24. Gedaliah swore to them and to their men, and said to them, “Don’t be afraid because of the servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you.” 25. But in the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal offspring came, and ten men with him, and struck Gedaliah, so that he died, with the Jews and the Chaldeans that were with him at Mizpah. 26. All the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces, arose, and came to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans. 27. In the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison; 28. and he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon, 29. and changed his prison garments. Jehoiachin ate bread before him continually all the days of his life; 30. and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him from the king, every day a portion, all the days of his life.

1. Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, 2. looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3. For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls. 4. You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin; 5. and you have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children, “My son, don’t take lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him; 6. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.” 7. It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father doesn’t discipline? 8. But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then are you illegitimate, and not children. 9. Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live? 10. For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. 11. All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised thereby. 12. Therefore lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees, 13. and make straight paths for your feet, so what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. 14. Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord, 15. looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and many be defiled by it; 16. lest there be any sexually immoral person, or profane person, like Esau, who sold his birthright for one meal. 17. For you know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for a change of mind though he sought it diligently with tears. 18. For you have not come to a mountain that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and to blackness, darkness, storm, 19. the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which those who heard it begged that not one more word should be spoken to them, 20. for they could not stand that which was commanded, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned”; 21. and so fearful was the appearance that Moses said, “I am terrified and trembling.” 22. But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable multitudes of angels, 23. to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, 24. to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel. 25. See that you don’t refuse him who speaks. For if they didn’t escape when they refused him who warned on the earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven, 26. whose voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.” 27. This phrase, “Yet once more”, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain. 28. Therefore, receiving a Kingdom that can’t be shaken, let us have grace, through which we serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, 29. for our God is a consuming fire. 1. Let brotherly love continue. 2. Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for in doing so, some have entertained angels without knowing it. 3. Remember those who are in bonds, as bound with them; and those who are ill-treated, since you are also in the body. 4. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers. 5. Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, “I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.” 6. So that with good courage we say, “The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me?” 7. Remember your leaders, men who spoke to you the word of God, and considering the results of their conduct, imitate their faith. 8. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 9. Don’t be carried away by various and strange teachings, for it is good that the heart be established by grace, not by food, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited. 10. We have an altar from which those who serve the holy tabernacle have no right to eat. 11. For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside of the camp. 12. Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside of the gate. 13. Let us therefore go out to him outside of the camp, bearing his reproach. 14. For we don’t have here an enduring city, but we seek that which is to come. 15. Through him, then, let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which proclaim allegiance to his name. 16. But don’t forget to be doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. 17. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account, that they may do this with joy, and not with groaning, for that would be unprofitable for you. 18. Pray for us, for we are persuaded that we have a good conscience, desiring to live honorably in all things. 19. I strongly urge you to do this, that I may be restored to you sooner. 20. Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep with the blood of an eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus, 21. make you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 22. But I exhort you, brothers, endure the word of exhortation; for I have written to you in few words. 23. Know that our brother Timothy has been freed, with whom, if he comes shortly, I will see you. 24. Greet all of your leaders and all the saints. The Italians greet you. 25. Grace be with you all. Amen.

1. My son, keep my words. Lay up my commandments within you. 2. Keep my commandments and live! Guard my teaching as the apple of your eye. 3. Bind them on your fingers. Write them on the tablet of your heart. 4. Tell wisdom, “You are my sister.” Call understanding your relative, 5. that they may keep you from the strange woman, from the foreigner who flatters with her words. 6. For at the window of my house, I looked out through my lattice. 7. I saw among the simple ones. I discerned among the youths a young man void of understanding, 8. passing through the street near her corner, he went the way to her house, 9. in the twilight, in the evening of the day, in the middle of the night and in the darkness. 10. Behold, there a woman met him with the attire of a prostitute, and with crafty intent. 11. She is loud and defiant. Her feet don’t stay in her house. 12. Now she is in the streets, now in the squares, and lurking at every corner. 13. So she caught him, and kissed him. With an impudent face she said to him: 14. “Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me. Today I have paid my vows. 15. Therefore I came out to meet you, to diligently seek your face, and I have found you. 16. I have spread my couch with carpets of tapestry, with striped cloths of the yarn of Egypt. 17. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. 18. Come, let’s take our fill of loving until the morning. Let’s solace ourselves with loving. 19. For my husband isn’t at home. He has gone on a long journey. 20. He has taken a bag of money with him. He will come home at the full moon.” 21. With persuasive words, she led him astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him. 22. He followed her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, as a fool stepping into a noose. 23. Until an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hurries to the snare, and doesn’t know that it will cost his life. 24. Now therefore, sons, listen to me. Pay attention to the words of my mouth. 25. Don’t let your heart turn to her ways. Don’t go astray in her paths, 26. for she has thrown down many wounded. Yes, all her slain are a mighty army. 27. Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the rooms of death.