The Daily Audio Bible

Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim

³¹ Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he became king. He ruled as king in Jerusalem for three months. His mother's name was Hamutal. She was the daughter of Jeremiah, who came from Libnah. ³² Jehoahaz did things that the Lord said were evil. ³³ Pharaoh Necho kept him in a prison at Riblah, so that Jehoahaz could not rule in Jerusalem. Riblah is in the Hamath region. Necho made Judah pay tax to him. It was 3,400 kilograms of silver and 34 kilograms of gold.

³⁴ Pharaoh Necho made Josiah's son Eliakim become the new king of Judah. Necho changed Eliakim's name to Jehoiakim. Then he took Jehoahaz away to Egypt. Later, Jehoahaz died in Egypt. ³⁵ King Jehoiakim paid Pharaoh Necho all the silver and gold that he asked for. But King Jehoiakim had to make the people of Judah pay taxes so that he could pay Pharaoh Necho. Each person in Judah had to pay what was right, if they were rich or if they were poor.

³⁶ Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became king. He ruled for 11 years as king in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zebidah. She was the daughter of Pedaiah, who came from Rumah. ³⁷ Jehoiakim did things that the Lord said were evil, as his ancestors had done.

King Nebuchadnezzar attacks Judah

24 While Jehoiakim was king, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon attacked Judah. Jehoiakim was under Nebuchadnezzar's authority for three years. But then Jehoiakim turned against Nebuchadnezzar. ² The Lord sent groups of soldiers to attack towns in Judah. The soldiers came from Babylon, Syria, Moab and Ammon. The Lord sent them to destroy Judah. He had already sent his servants, the prophets, to warn the people of Judah about this. ³ The Lord had said that these things must happen. He had decided to send Judah away from himself because of the sins that King Manasseh had done. ⁴ Manasseh had murdered people who had not done anything wrong. Their blood was in the streets of Jerusalem. The Lord would not agree to forgive Manasseh for his sins.

⁵ The other things that happened while Jehoiakim was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Judah's kings’. It tells about the things that Jehoiakim did. ⁶ Jehoiakim died and they buried him beside his ancestors. His son Jehoiachin became king after him.

⁷ The king of Egypt did not take his army out of his own country again. That was because the king of Babylon had taken a lot of Egypt's land for himself. He had taken all the land between the Stream of Egypt and the River Euphrates. Before that, the king of Egypt had authority over that land.

⁸ Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he became king. He ruled as king in Jerusalem for three months. His mother's name was Nehushta. She was the daughter of Elnathan, who came from Jerusalem. ⁹ Jehoiachin did things that the Lord said were evil, as his father had done.

¹⁰ King Nebuchadnezzar's officers took their army to attack Jerusalem. They made their camp all around the city. ¹¹ Then King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up to Jerusalem himself while his officers were there.

¹² Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, went out of the city to put himself under King Nebuchadnezzar's authority. He went with his mother, his servants, his leaders and his palace officers. In the eighth year that King Nebuchadnezzar ruled as king, he made Jehoiachin his prisoner.

¹³ King Nebuchadnezzar took all the valuable things from the Lord's temple and from the king's palace. He cut away all the gold things that King Solomon had made for the Lord's temple. The Lord had already warned that this would happen. ¹⁴ Nebuchadnezzar took away as his prisoners all the people who lived in Jerusalem. There were 10,000 people. They included all the officers and all the soldiers. He also took away the people who had special skills to work with wood and metal. The only people who remained in Judah were the very poor people.

¹⁵ Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin away from Jerusalem as his prisoner to Babylon. He also took the king's mother, his wives, his officers and the important leaders of Judah. ¹⁶ The king of Babylon also took away to Babylon all the soldiers of Judah's army. There were 7,000 soldiers. They included the best fighters. He also took 1,000 workers who had special skills to make things with wood and metal. ¹⁷ Nebuchadnezzar chose Jehoiachin's uncle, Mattaniah, to be king instead of Jehoiachin. Nebuchadnezzar changed Mattaniah's name to Zedekiah.

¹⁸ Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 11 years. His mother's name was Hamutal. She was the daughter of Jeremiah, who came from Libnah. ¹⁹ Zedekiah did things that the Lord said were evil, as Jehoiakim had done.

²⁰ All this trouble happened to Jerusalem and to Judah because the Lord was very angry with them. In the end, the Lord sent them away from himself.

This is what happened when King Zedekiah turned against the king of Babylon.

King Nebuchadnezzar destroys Jerusalem

25 Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, marched with all his army to attack Jerusalem. He arrived on the 10th day of the 10th month, in the 9th year when Zedekiah had ruled Judah. His soldiers made their camp all around the city. They built heaps of earth all around Jerusalem's walls.^{[a] 2} Babylon's army stayed around the city until the 11th year that Zedekiah had been king. ³ By the 9th day of the 4th month, there was a very bad famine in the city. There was no food for the people to eat. ⁴ Then Babylon's army broke down Jerusalem's wall so that they could go into the city. Their soldiers were all around the city. So the king of Judah and all his army tried to escape in the night. They went through the gate that was near the king's garden. The path went between the two walls of the city. They ran towards the Jordan Valley. ⁵ But the soldiers of Babylon's army chased after the king. They caught him on the flat land near Jericho. All King Zedekiah's soldiers ran away from him in many directions.

⁶ Babylon's soldiers took hold of King Zedekiah. They took him to King Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah. Nebuchadnezzar decided how to punish Zedekiah. ⁷ They killed all Zedekiah's sons as their punishment, while Zedekiah watched. Then they cut out Zedekiah's eyes to make him blind. They tied him with chains and they took him to Babylon.

⁸ King Nebuchadnezzar had an officer whose name was Nebuzaradan. He was the captain of the king's royal guards. Nebuzaradan came to Jerusalem when Nebuchadnezzar had ruled Babylon for 19 years. It was on the 7th day of the 5th month. ⁹ Nebuzaradan destroyed the Lord's temple, the king's palace and all the other houses in Jerusalem. He burned them all with fire, so that he destroyed every important building in the city. ¹⁰ Then Nebuzaradan commanded his whole army to knock down the walls around Jerusalem. ¹¹ Captain Nebuzaradan sent away as prisoners all the people who remained in Jerusalem. He also sent away those people who had agreed to serve the king of Babylon and the workers who were still there. ¹² But Nebuzaradan let some of the poorest people stay there. He gave them vineyards and fields to work in.

¹³ The soldiers from Babylon broke the two bronze pillars that were in the Lord's temple. They also broke the carts which carried the buckets for water and the large bath called ‘the Sea’. They carried all the bronze pieces away to Babylon. ¹⁴ They also took away the pots, the spades, the small tools for the lamps, and the dishes. They took all the bronze tools that the priests used in the temple. ¹⁵ Nebuzaradan also took away the baskets that carried hot coals and the bowls for water. He took away everything that was made from gold or silver. ¹⁶ The bronze from the things that King Solomon had made for the Lord's temple was very heavy. They included the two bronze pillars, the large bath called ‘the Sea’ and the carts which carried the buckets for water.^[b] The bronze from all these things was more than they could weigh. ¹⁷ Each pillar was 8 metres high. The bronze piece on the top of one pillar was more than 1 metre high. It had rows of chains with images of pomegranates made from bronze all around it. The other pillar, with its rows of chains and pomegranates, was the same.

¹⁸ Captain Nebuzaradan took hold of these people:

¹⁹ He also took hold of these people who remained in Jerusalem:

²⁰ Nebuzaradan took hold of all those people. He brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah, in the Hamath region. ²¹ There, at Riblah, the king of Babylon commanded his soldiers to punish them all with death.

That was how Judah's people went into exile, away from their own land.

Gedaliah rules Judah

²² King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon chose Gedaliah, to have authority to rule the people who were still in Judah. Gedaliah was the son of Ahikam and the grandson of Shaphan.

²³ The officers of Judah's army and their men heard news that the king of Babylon had chosen Gedaliah to be the ruler of Judah. So they went to meet Gedaliah at Mizpah. The army officers were:

²⁴ Gedaliah promised that he would not hurt these officers or the men who were with them. He said to them, ‘Do not be afraid to serve the soldiers from Babylon. Make your homes here in our land, but agree to serve the king of Babylon. If you do that, you will be successful.’

²⁵ But in the seventh month of that year, Ishmael went to Mizpah with ten of his men. Ishmael was the son of Nethaniah and the grandson of Elishama, who belonged to the king's family. They murdered Gedaliah, and the other men who were with him in Mizpah. Some of those men were from Judah and some of them were from Babylon. ²⁶ When that happened, all the people of Judah ran away to Egypt. They included the army officers, as well as ordinary people and important people. They were all afraid that the people of Babylon would come to punish them.

²⁷ 37 years after King Jehoiachin of Judah had gone as a prisoner to Babylon, Evil-Merodach became the king of Babylon. On the 27th day of the 12th month, he took Jehoiachin out from his prison so that he became free. ²⁸ King Evil-Merodach spoke in a kind way to Jehoiachin. He gave him more honour than the other kings who were with him in Babylon. ²⁹ Jehoiachin no longer had to wear the clothes of a prisoner. Every day until he died, he ate a meal at the king's table in Babylon. ³⁰ The king of Babylon gave Jehoiachin everything that he needed each day for the rest of his life.

¹⁷ So then I returned to Jerusalem. I went into the temple and I was praying there. I had a vision. ¹⁸ In the vision, I saw the Lord and he spoke to me. He said, “Hurry. Leave Jerusalem quickly. The people here will not believe what you say to them about me.”

¹⁹ I replied, “Lord, the people here know what I have been doing. They know that I wanted to take hold of all the people who believed in you. I went to all our Jewish meeting places to look for the believers. When I found them, I put them in prison and I hit them with sticks. ²⁰ I myself was there when the people killed Stephen. He was your servant who told people your message. But I agreed that it was right to kill him. I even held the coats of the people while they killed him.”

²¹ But the Lord said to me, “Go! I will now send you a long way away. You must go to the Gentiles and tell them my message.” ’

The people in the crowd become very angry with Paul

²² The people listened carefully to Paul until he spoke about the Gentiles. Then they began to shout loudly, ‘Take him away! Kill him! It is not right that he should live any longer!’

²³ While they were shouting this, they were taking off their coats. They also threw dirt from the ground up into the air.^[a]

²⁴ The leader of the soldiers said to his men, ‘Take this man into our building. Then hit him with whips. We must find out what he has done. He must tell us why the Jews are shouting so loudly against him.’^[b]

²⁵ So the soldiers tied Paul's arms and they were ready to hit him. But Paul spoke to the soldiers' officer who stood near to him. He said, ‘I am a citizen of Rome. So it is not right for you to hit me like that. No judge has agreed that I have done anything wrong.’

²⁶ The officer heard what Paul said. So he went to the leader of the soldiers and he said, ‘That man is a citizen of Rome! Be careful what you do to him!’

²⁷ So the soldiers' leader went to speak to Paul. He asked him, ‘Tell me. Are you really a citizen of Rome?’

Paul answered, ‘Yes, I am.’

²⁸ The soldiers' leader said, ‘I paid a lot of money to the government so that I could become a citizen of Rome.’

Paul replied, ‘But I was already a citizen of Rome when I was born.’

²⁹ Immediately, the men who wanted to hit Paul with whips moved away from him. The leader of the soldiers was also very afraid. He had tied chains around Paul's arms and legs. He knew that he should not have done that to a citizen of Rome.^[c]

³⁰ The soldiers' leader wanted to find the reason why the Jews had said bad things against Paul. He wanted to know what was really true. So the next day, he told his soldiers to remove the chains from Paul. He sent a message to the most important priest and to all the group of Jewish leaders. He told them to meet together with him. Then he took Paul to their meeting. He made Paul stand in front of them.

Paul speaks to the meeting of Jewish leaders

23 Paul looked at the group of Jewish leaders and he said to them, ‘My Jewish friends, God knows that I have nothing to be ashamed about today. I have always respected God's Laws.’ ² The most important priest, who was called Ananias, heard Paul's words. He said to the men who were near Paul, ‘Hit that man on his mouth!’ ³ Paul said to him, ‘God will certainly hit you! You are a hypocrite!^[d] You are sitting there and you are judging me. You are asking if I obey the Law of God. But you yourself do not obey the Law! You should not have said, “Hit that man!” ’

⁴ The men who were standing near Paul said to him, ‘You must not say bad things against our most important priest!’

⁵ Paul replied, ‘My brothers, I did not know that this man is the most important priest.^[e] Our Jewish law says, “Do not say bad things against the man who rules your people.” So I should not have said anything bad against him.’

⁶ Then Paul saw that there were some Sadducees and also some Pharisees in the meeting. So he shouted out to the whole group of Jewish leaders, ‘My brothers, I am a Pharisee! My father was also a Pharisee. I believe that dead people will certainly rise and they will live again. That is the reason why you are judging me today.’

⁷ As soon as Paul said that, the Pharisees and Sadducees began to argue with each other. People in the group thought different things about Paul. ⁸ (The Sadducees do not believe that dead people will live again. They do not believe that there are angels or spirits. But the Pharisees believe in all these things.)

⁹ The Sadducees and the Pharisees began to shout louder and louder against each other. There were some teachers of God's Law who were in the group of Pharisees. They stood up in the meeting and they said, ‘We do not believe that this man has done anything wrong. What he says may be true. A spirit or an angel may have spoken to him.’

¹⁰ The two groups argued more and more strongly. The leader of the soldiers thought that the people there might hurt Paul badly. So he said to his soldiers, ‘Go down into the group and take Paul away from them. Take him back with you into our strong building.’

The Lord's king rules^[a]