Bible Reading Plan – Day 214

₁Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of the Jeremiah who lived in the city of Libnah. ₂King Zedekiah sinned against the LORD, just as King Jehoiakim had done. ₃The LORD became so angry with the people of Jerusalem and Judah that he banished them from his sight.

Zedekiah rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, ₄and so Nebuchadnezzar came with all his army and attacked Jerusalem on the tenth day of the tenth month of the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign. They set up camp outside the city, built siege walls round it, ₅and kept it under siege until Zedekiah's eleventh year. ₆On the ninth day of the fourth month of that same year, when the famine was so bad that the people had nothing left to eat, ₇the city walls were broken through. Although the Babylonians were surrounding the city, all the soldiers escaped during the night. They left by way of the royal garden, went through the gateway connecting the two walls, and fled in the direction of the Jordan Valley. ₈But the Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah, captured him in the plains near Jericho, and all his soldiers deserted him. ₉Zedekiah was taken to King Nebuchadnezzar, who was in the city of Riblah in the territory of Hamath, and there Nebuchadnezzar passed sentence on him. ₁₀At Riblah he put Zedekiah's sons to death while Zedekiah was looking on and he also had the officials of Judah executed. ₁₁After that, he had Zedekiah's eyes put out and had him placed in chains and taken to Babylon. Zedekiah remained in prison in Babylon until the day he died.

₁₂On the tenth day of the fifth month of the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, Nebuzaradan, adviser to the king and commander of his army, entered Jerusalem. ₁₃He burnt down the Temple, the palace, and the houses of all the important people in Jerusalem; ₁₄and his soldiers tore down the city walls. ₁₅Then Nebuzaradan took away to Babylonia the people who were left in the city, the remaining skilled workmen, and those who had deserted to the Babylonians. ₁₆But he left in Judah some of the poorest people, who owned no property, and he put them to work in the vineyards and fields.

₁₇The Babylonians broke in pieces the bronze columns and the carts that were in the Temple, together with the large bronze tank, and they took all the bronze to Babylon. ₁₈They also took away the shovels and the ash containers used in cleaning the altar, the tools used in tending the lamps, the bowls used for catching the blood from the sacrifices, the bowls used for burning incense, and all the other bronze articles used in the temple service. ₁₉They took away everything that was made of gold or silver: the small bowls, the pans used for carrying live coals, the bowls for holding the blood from the sacrifices, the ash containers, the lampstands, the bowls used for incense, and the bowls used for pouring out offerings of wine. ₂₀The bronze objects that King Solomon had made for the Temple — the two columns, the carts, the large tank, and the twelve bulls that supported it — were too heavy to weigh. _21-22The two columns were identical: each one was eight metres high and 5.3 metres round. They were hollow, and the metal was 75 millimetres thick. On top of each column was a bronze capital 2.2 metres high, and all round it was a grating decorated with pomegranates, all of which was also made of bronze. ₂₃On the grating of each column there were a hundred pomegranates in all, and 96 of these were visible from the ground.

₂₄In addition, Nebuzaradan, the commanding officer, took away as prisoners Seraiah the High Priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank, and the three other important temple officials. ₂₅From the city he took the officer who had been in command of the troops, seven of the king's personal advisers who were still in the city, the commander's assistant, who was in charge of military records, and sixty other important men. ₂₆Nebuzaradan took them to the king of Babylonia, who was in the city of Riblah ₂₇in the territory of Hamath. There the king had them beaten and put to death.

So the people of Judah were carried away from their land into exile. ₂₈This is the record of the people that Nebuchadnezzar took away as prisoners: in his seventh year as king he carried away 3,023; ₂₉in his eighteenth year, 832 from Jerusalem; ₃₀and in his 23rd year, 745 — taken away by Nebuzaradan. In all, 4,600 people were taken away.

₃₁In the year that Evil-merodach became king of Babylonia, he showed kindness to King Jehoiachin of Judah by releasing him from prison. This happened on the 25th day of the twelfth month of the 37th year after Jehoiachin had been taken away as a prisoner. ₃₂Evil-merodach treated him kindly and gave him a position of greater honour than he gave the other kings who were exiles with him in Babylonia. ₃₃So Jehoiachin was permitted to change from his prison clothes and to dine at the king's table for the rest of his life. ₃₄Each day for as long as he lived, he was given a regular allowance for his needs.

₁This is the message that the LORD revealed to the prophet Habakkuk.

₂O LORD, how long must I call for help before you listen, before you save us from violence? ₃Why do you make me see such trouble? How can you endure to look on such wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are all round me, and there is fighting and quarrelling everywhere. ₄The law is weak and useless, and justice is never done. Evil people get the better of the righteous, and so justice is perverted.

₅Then the LORD said to his people, “Keep watching the nations round you, and you will be astonished at what you see. I am going to do something that you will not believe when you hear about it. ₆I am bringing the Babylonians to power, those fierce, restless people. They are marching out across the world to conquer other lands. ₇They spread fear and terror, and in their pride they are a law to themselves.

₈“Their horses are faster than leopards, fiercer than hungry wolves. Their horsemen come riding from distant lands; their horses paw the ground. They come swooping down like eagles attacking their prey.

₉“Their armies advance in violent conquest, and everyone is terrified as they approach. Their captives are as numerous as grains of sand. ₁₀They treat kings with contempt and laugh at high officials. No fortress can stop them — they pile up earth against it and capture it. ₁₁Then they sweep on like the wind and are gone, these men whose power is their god.”

₁₂LORD, from the very beginning you are God. You are my God, holy and eternal. LORD, my God and protector, you have chosen the Babylonians and made them strong so that they can punish us. ₁₃But how can you stand these treacherous, evil men? Your eyes are too holy to look at evil, and you cannot stand the sight of people doing wrong. So why are you silent while they destroy people who are more righteous than they are?

₁₄How can you treat people like fish or like a swarm of insects that have no ruler to direct them? ₁₅The Babylonians catch people with hooks, as though they were fish. They drag them off in nets and shout for joy over their catch! ₁₆They even worship their nets and offer sacrifices to them, because their nets provide them with the best of everything.

₁₇Are they going to use their swords for ever and keep on destroying nations without mercy?

₁I will climb my watchtower and wait to see what the LORD will tell me to say and what answer he will give to my complaint.

₂The LORD gave me this answer: “Write down clearly on clay tablets what I reveal to you, so that it can be read at a glance. ₃Put it in writing, because it is not yet time for it to come true. But the time is coming quickly, and what I show you will come true. It may seem slow in coming, but wait for it; it will certainly take place, and it will not be delayed. ₄And this is the message: ‘Those who are evil will not survive, but those who are righteous will live because they are faithful to God.’ ”

₅Wealth is deceitful. Greedy people are proud and restless — like death itself they are never satisfied. That is why they conquer nation after nation for themselves. ₆The conquered people will taunt their conquerors and show their scorn for them. They will say, “You take what isn't yours, but you are doomed! How long will you go on getting rich by forcing your debtors to pay up?”

₇But before you know it, you that have conquered others will be in debt yourselves and be forced to pay interest. Enemies will come and make you tremble. They will plunder you! ₈You have plundered the people of many nations, but now those who have survived will plunder you because of the murders you have committed and because of your violence against the people of the world and its cities.

₉You are doomed! You have made your family rich with what you took by violence, and have tried to make your own home safe from harm and danger! ₁₀But your schemes have brought shame on your family; by destroying many nations you have only brought ruin on yourself. ₁₁Even the stones of the walls cry out against you, and the rafters echo the cry.

₁₂You are doomed! You founded a city on crime and built it up by murder. ₁₃The nations you conquered wore themselves out in useless labour, and all they have built goes up in flames. The LORD Almighty has done this. ₁₄But the earth will be as full of the knowledge of the LORD's glory as the seas are full of water.

₁₅You are doomed! In your fury you humiliated and disgraced your neighbours; you made them stagger as though they were drunk. ₁₆You in turn will be covered with shame instead of honour. You yourself will drink and stagger. The LORD will make you drink your own cup of punishment, and your honour will be turned to disgrace. ₁₇You have cut down the forests of Lebanon; now you will be cut down. You killed its animals; now animals will terrify you. This will happen because of the murders you have committed and because of your violence against the people of the world and its cities.

₁₈What's the use of an idol? It is only something that a human being has made, and it tells you nothing but lies. What good does it do for its maker to trust it — a god that can't even talk! ₁₉You are doomed! You say to a piece of wood, “Wake up!” or to a block of stone, “Get up!” Can an idol reveal anything to you? It may be covered with silver and gold, but there is no life in it.

₂₀The LORD is in his holy Temple; let everyone on earth be silent in his presence.

₁This is a prayer of the prophet Habakkuk: