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54 Listen! Hear the cry of great destruction out of Babylon, the land the Chaldeans rule! 55 For the Lord is destroying Babylon; her mighty voice is stilled as the waves roar in upon her. 56 Destroying armies come and slay her mighty men; all her weapons break in her hands, for the Lord God gives just punishment and is giving Babylon all her due. 57 I will make drunk her princes, wise men, rulers, captains, warriors. They shall sleep and not wake up again! So says the King, the Lord Almighty. 58 For the wide walls of Babylon shall be leveled to the ground, and her high gates shall be burned; the builders from many lands have worked in vain—their work shall be destroyed by fire!
59 During the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign, this message came to Jeremiah to give to Seraiah (son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah), concerning Seraiah’s capture[a] and exile to Babylon along with Zedekiah, king of Judah. (Seraiah was quartermaster of Zedekiah’s army.) 60 Jeremiah wrote on a scroll all the terrible things God had scheduled against Babylon—all the words written above— 61-62 and gave the scroll to Seraiah and said to him, “When you get to Babylon, read what I have written and say, ‘Lord, you have said that you will destroy Babylon so that not a living creature will remain, and it will be abandoned forever.’ 63 Then, when you have finished reading the scroll, tie a rock to it, and throw it into the Euphrates River, 64 and say, ‘So shall Babylon sink, never more to rise, because of the evil I am bringing upon her.’”
(This ends Jeremiah’s messages.)
52 (Events told about in chapter 39.)
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal (daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah). 2 But he was a wicked king, just as Jehoiakim had been. 3 Things became so bad at last that the Lord, in his anger, saw to it that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon until he and the people of Israel were ejected from the Lord’s presence in Jerusalem and Judah, and were taken away as captives to Babylon.
4 In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came with all his army against Jerusalem and built forts around it, 5 and laid siege to the city for two years. 6 Then finally, on the ninth day of the fourth month, when the famine in the city was very serious, with the last of the food entirely gone, 7 the people in the city tore a hole in the city wall and all the soldiers fled from the city during the night, going out by the gate between the two walls near the king’s gardens (for the city was surrounded by the Chaldeans), and made a dash for it across the fields, toward Arabah.
8 But the Chaldean soldiers chased them and caught King Zedekiah in some fields near Jericho—for all his army was scattered from him. 9 They brought him to the king of Babylon who was staying in the city of Riblah in the kingdom of Hamath, and there judgment was passed upon him. 10 He made Zedekiah watch while his sons and all the princes of Judah were killed before his eyes. 11 Then his eyes were gouged out, and he was taken in chains to Babylon and put in prison for the rest of his life.
12 On the tenth day of the fifth month during the nineteenth year[b] of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, arrived in Jerusalem, 13 and burned the Temple and the palace and all the larger homes, 14 and set the Chaldean army to work tearing down the walls of the city. 15 Then he took to Babylon, as captives, some of the poorest of the people—along with those who survived the city’s destruction, and those who had deserted Zedekiah and had come over to the Babylonian army, and the tradesmen who were left. 16 But he left some of the poorest people to care for the crops as vinedressers and plowmen.
17 The Babylonians dismantled the two large bronze pillars that stood at the entrance of the Temple, and the bronze laver and bronze bulls on which it stood, and carted them off to Babylon. 18 And he took along all the bronze pots and kettles, the ash shovels used at the altar, the snuffers, spoons, bowls, and all the other items used in the Temple. 19 He also took the firepans, the solid gold and silver candlesticks, and the cups and bowls.
20 The weight of the two enormous pillars, the laver, and twelve bulls was tremendous. They had no way of estimating it. (They had been made in the days of King Solomon.) 21 For the pillars were each 27 feet high and 18 feet in circumference, hollow, with 3-inch walls. 22 The top 7-1/2 feet of each column had bronze carvings, a network of bronze pomegranates. 23 There were 96 pomegranates on the sides, and on the network round about there were a hundred more.
24-25 The captain of the guard took along with him as his prisoners: Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah his assistant, the three chief Temple guards, one of the commanding officers of the army, seven of the king’s special counselors discovered in the city, the secretary of the general-in-chief of the Jewish army (who was in charge of recruitment), and sixty other men of importance found hiding. 26 He took them to the king of Babylon at Riblah, 27 where the king killed them all.
So it was that Judah’s exile was accomplished.
28 The number of captives taken to Babylon in the seventh year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign was 3,023. 29 Then, eleven years later, he took 832 more; 30 five years after that he sent Nebuzaradan, his captain of the guard, and took 745—a total of 4,600 captives in all.
31 On February 25 of the thirty-seventh year of the imprisonment in Babylon of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, Evil-merodach, who became king of Babylon that year, was kind to King Jehoiachin and brought him out of prison. 32 He spoke pleasantly to him and gave him preference over all the other kings in Babylon; 33 he gave him new clothes and fed him from the king’s kitchen as long as he lived. 34 And he was given a regular allowance to cover his daily needs until the day of his death.
3 Remind your people to obey the government and its officers, and always to be obedient and ready for any honest work. 2 They must not speak evil of anyone, nor quarrel, but be gentle and truly courteous to all.
3 Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient; we were misled by others and became slaves to many evil pleasures and wicked desires. Our lives were full of resentment and envy. We hated others and they hated us.
4 But when the time came for the kindness and love of God our Savior to appear, 5 then he saved us—not because we were good enough to be saved but because of his kindness and pity—by washing away our sins and giving us the new joy of the indwelling Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out upon us with wonderful fullness—and all because of what Jesus Christ our Savior did 7 so that he could declare us good in God’s eyes—all because of his great kindness; and now we can share in the wealth of the eternal life he gives us, and we are eagerly looking forward to receiving it. 8 These things I have told you are all true. Insist on them so that Christians will be careful to do good deeds all the time, for this is not only right, but it brings results.
9 Don’t get involved in arguing over unanswerable questions and controversial theological ideas; keep out of arguments and quarrels about obedience to Jewish laws, for this kind of thing isn’t worthwhile; it only does harm. 10 If anyone is causing divisions among you, he should be given a first and second warning. After that have nothing more to do with him, 11 for such a person has a wrong sense of values. He is sinning, and he knows it.
12 I am planning to send either Artemas or Tychicus to you. As soon as one of them arrives, please try to meet me at Nicopolis as quickly as you can, for I have decided to stay there for the winter. 13 Do everything you can to help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos with their trip; see that they are given everything they need. 14 For our people must learn to help all who need their assistance, that their lives will be fruitful.
15 Everybody here sends greetings. Please say hello to all of the Christian friends there. May God’s blessings be with you all.
Sincerely, Paul
100 Shout with joy before the Lord, O earth! 2 Obey him gladly; come before him, singing with joy.
3 Try to realize what this means—the Lord is God! He made us—we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Go through his open gates with great thanksgiving; enter his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and bless his name. 5 For the Lord is always good. He is always loving and kind, and his faithfulness goes on and on to each succeeding generation.
18-19 A man who is caught lying to his neighbor and says, “I was just fooling,” is like a madman throwing around firebrands, arrows, and death!
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.