31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah. 32And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, just as his fathers had done.

33 And Pharaoh Neco imprisoned Jehoahaz at Riblah in the land of Hamath so that he could not reign in Jerusalem, and he imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34Then Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah, and he changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt, where he died.

35 So Jehoiakim paid the silver and gold to Pharaoh Neco, but to meet Pharaoh’s demand he taxed the land and exacted the silver and the gold from the people, each according to his wealth.

36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Zebidah daughter of Pedaiah; she was from Rumah. 37And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, just as his fathers had done.

1 During Jehoiakim’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded. So Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years, until he turned and rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar.

2 And the Lord sent Chaldean, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite raiders against Jehoiakim in order to destroy Judah, according to the word that the Lord had spoken through His servants the prophets. 3Surely this happened to Judah at the Lord’s command, to remove them from His presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all that he had done, 4and also for the innocent blood he had shed. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was unwilling to forgive.

5 As for the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, along with all his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?

6 And Jehoiakim rested with his fathers, and his son Jehoiachin reigned in his place.

7 Now the king of Egypt did not march out of his land again, because the king of Babylon had taken all his territory, from the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates River.

8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan; she was from Jerusalem. 9And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, just as his father had done.

10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched up to Jerusalem, and the city came under siege. 11And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while his servants were besieging it. 12Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his servants, his commanders, and his officials all surrendered to the king of Babylon.

So in the eighth year of his reign, the king of Babylon took him captive. 13As the Lord had declared, Nebuchadnezzar also carried off all the treasures from the house of the Lord and the royal palace, and he cut into pieces all the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord. 14He carried into exile all Jerusalem — all the commanders and mighty men of valor, all the craftsmen and metalsmiths — ten thousand captives in all. Only the poorest people of the land remained.

15 Nebuchadnezzar carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, as well as the king’s mother, his wives, his officials, and the leading men of the land. He took them into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16The king of Babylon also brought into exile to Babylon all seven thousand men of valor and a thousand craftsmen and metalsmiths— all strong and fit for battle.

17 Then the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah.

18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.

19 And Zedekiah did evil in the sight of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done. 20For because of the anger of the Lord, all this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until He finally banished them from His presence.

And Zedekiah also rebelled against the king of Babylon.

1 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it. 2And the city was kept under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year.

3 By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food. 4Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden.

They headed toward the Arabah, 5but the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and his whole army deserted him. 6The Chaldeans seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where they pronounced judgment on him. 7And they slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.

8 On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign over Babylon, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. 9He burned down the house of the Lord, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem — every significant building. 10And the whole army of the Chaldeans under the captain of the guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.

11 Then Nebuzaradan captain of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon and the rest of the population. 12But the captain of the guard left behind some of the poorest of the land to tend the vineyards and fields.

13 Moreover, the Chaldeans broke up the bronze pillars and stands and the bronze Sea in the house of the Lord, and they carried the bronze to Babylon. 14They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes, and all the articles of bronze used in the temple service. 15The captain of the guard also took away the censers and sprinkling bowls— anything made of pure gold or fine silver.

16 As for the two pillars, the Sea, and the movable stands that Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, the weight of the bronze from all these articles was beyond measure. 17Each pillar was eighteen cubits tall. The bronze capital atop one pillar was three cubits high, with a network of bronze pomegranates all around. The second pillar, with its network, was similar.

18 The captain of the guard also took away Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest of second rank, and the three doorkeepers. 19Of those still in the city, he took a court official who had been appointed over the men of war, as well as five royal advisors. He also took the scribe of the captain of the army, who had enlisted the people of the land, and sixty men who were found in the city.

20 Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 21There at Riblah in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death. So Judah was taken into exile, away from its own land.

22 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, over the people he had left behind in the land of Judah.

23 When all the commanders of the armies and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah — Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite, as well as their men. 24And Gedaliah took an oath before them and their men, assuring them, “Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you.”

25 In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family, came with ten men and struck down and killed Gedaliah, along with the Judeans and Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. 26Then all the people small and great, together with the commanders of the army, arose and fled to Egypt for fear of the Chaldeans.

27 On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Judah’s King Jehoiachin, in the year Evil-merodach became king of Babylon, he released King Jehoiachin of Judah from prison. 28And he spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and set his throne above the thrones of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.

29 So Jehoiachin changed out of his prison clothes, and he dined regularly at the king’s table for the rest of his life. 30And the king provided Jehoiachin a daily portion for the rest of his life.

17 Later, when I had returned to Jerusalem and was praying at the temple, I fell into a trance 18and saw the Lord saying to me, ‘Hurry! Leave Jerusalem quickly, because the people here will not accept your testimony about Me.’

19‘Lord,’ I answered, ‘they know very well that in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in You. 20And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was shed, I stood there giving my approval and watching over the garments of those who killed him.’

21 Then He said to me, ‘Go! I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”

22 The crowd listened to Paul until he made this statement. Then they lifted up their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him! He is not fit to live!”

23 As they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and tossing dust into the air, 24the commander ordered that Paul be brought into the barracks. He directed that Paul be flogged and interrogated to determine the reason for this outcry against him.

25 But as they stretched him out to strap him down, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it lawful for you to flog a Roman citizen without a trial?”

26 On hearing this, the centurion went and reported it to the commander. “What are you going to do?” he said. “This man is a Roman citizen.”

27 The commander went to Paul and asked, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?”

“Yes,” he answered.

28“I paid a high price for my citizenship,” said the commander.

“But I was born a citizen,” Paul replied.

29 At once those who were about to interrogate Paul stepped back, and the commander himself was alarmed when he realized that he had put a Roman citizen in chains.

30 The next day the commander, wanting to learn the real reason Paul was accused by the Jews, released him and ordered the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin to assemble. Then he brought Paul down and had him stand before them.

1 Paul looked directly at the Sanhedrin and said, “Brothers, I have conducted myself before God in all good conscience to this day.”

2 At this, the high priest Ananias ordered those standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth.

3 Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit here to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck.”

4 But those standing nearby said, “How dare you insult the high priest of God!”

5“Brothers,” Paul replied, “I was not aware that he was the high priest, for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’”

6 Then Paul, knowing that some of them were Sadducees and the others Pharisees, called out in the Sanhedrin, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee. It is because of my hope in the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”

7 As soon as he had said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. 8For the Sadducees say that there is neither a resurrection nor angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.

9 A great clamor arose, and some scribes from the party of the Pharisees got up and contended sharply, “We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?” 10The dispute grew so violent that the commander was afraid they would tear Paul to pieces. He ordered the soldiers to go down and remove him by force and bring him into the barracks.