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LORD, hear my prayer! In your righteousness listen to my plea; answer me in your faithfulness!
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Don't put me, your servant, on trial; no one is innocent in your sight.
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My enemies have hunted me down and completely defeated me. They have put me in a dark prison, and I am like those who died long ago.
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So I am ready to give up; I am in deep despair.
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I remember the days gone by; I think about all that you have done, I bring to mind all your deeds.
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I lift up my hands to you in prayer; like dry ground my soul is thirsty for you.
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Answer me now, LORD! I have lost all hope. Don't hide yourself from me, or I will be among those who go down to the world of the dead.
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Remind me each morning of your constant love, for I put my trust in you. My prayers go up to you; show me the way I should go.
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I go to you for protection, LORD; rescue me from my enemies.
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You are my God; teach me to do your will. Be good to me, and guide me on a safe path.
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Rescue me, LORD, as you have promised; in your goodness save me from my troubles!
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Because of your love for me, kill my enemies and destroy all my oppressors, for I am your servant.
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Praise the LORD, my protector! He trains me for battle and prepares me for war.
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He is my protector and defender, my shelter and savior, in whom I trust for safety. He subdues the nations under me.
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LORD, what are mortals, that you notice them; mere mortals, that you pay attention to us?
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We are like a puff of wind; our days are like a passing shadow.
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O LORD, tear the sky open and come down; touch the mountains, and they will pour out smoke.
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Send flashes of lightning and scatter your enemies; shoot your arrows and send them running.
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Reach down from above, pull me out of the deep water, and rescue me; save me from the power of foreigners,
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who never tell the truth and lie even under oath.
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I will sing you a new song, O God; I will play the harp and sing to you.
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You give victory to kings and rescue your servant David.
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Save me from my cruel enemies; rescue me from the power of foreigners, who never tell the truth and lie even under oath.
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May our sons in their youth be like plants that grow up strong. May our daughters be like stately columns which adorn the corners of a palace.
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May our barns be filled with crops of every kind. May the sheep in our fields bear young by the tens of thousands.
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May our cattle reproduce plentifully without miscarriage or loss. May there be no cries of distress in our streets.
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Happy is the nation of whom this is true; happy are the people whose God is the LORD!
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Zedekiah was twenty-one 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.
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King Zedekiah sinned against the LORD, just as King Jehoiakim had done.
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The 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,
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and 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 around it,
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and kept it under siege until Zedekiah's eleventh year.
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On 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,
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the 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.
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But the Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah, captured him in the plains near Jericho, and all his soldiers deserted him.
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Zedekiah was taken to King Nebuchadnezzar, who was in the city of Riblah in the territory of Hamath, and there Nebuchadnezzar passed sentence on him.
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At Riblah he put Zedekiah's sons to death while Zedekiah was looking on and he also had the officials of Judah executed.
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After 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.
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On 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.
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He burned down the Temple, the palace, and the houses of all the important people in Jerusalem;
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and his soldiers tore down the city walls.
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Then Nebuzaradan took away to Babylonia the people who were left in the city, the remaining skilled workers, and those who had deserted to the Babylonians.
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But he left in Judah some of the poorest people, who owned no property, and he put them to work in the vineyards and fields.
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The 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.
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They 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.
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They 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 wine offerings.
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The 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.
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The two columns were identical: each one was 27 feet high and 18 feet around. They were hollow, and the metal was 3 inches thick. On top of each column was a bronze capital 7 1/2 feet high, and all around it was a grillwork decorated with pomegranates, all of which was also made of bronze.
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On the grillwork of each column there were a hundred pomegranates in all, and ninety-six of these were visible from the ground.
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In 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.
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From 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.
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Nebuzaradan took them to the king of Babylonia, who was in the city of Riblah
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in 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.
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This is the record of the people that Nebuchadnezzar took away as prisoners: in his seventh year as king he carried away 3,023;
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in his eighteenth year, 832 from Jerusalem;
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and in his twenty-third year, 745---taken away by Nebuzaradan. In all, 4,600 people were taken away.
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In 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 twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year after Jehoiachin had been taken away as a prisoner.
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Evil-merodach treated him kindly and gave him a position of greater honor than he gave the other kings who were exiles with him in Babylonia.
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So Jehoiachin was permitted to change from his prison clothes and to dine at the king's table for the rest of his life.
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Each day for as long as he lived, he was given a regular allowance for his needs.
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This book is the record of the events that Jesus Christ revealed. God gave him this revelation in order to show to his servants what must happen very soon. Christ made these things known to his servant John by sending his angel to him,
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and John has told all that he has seen. This is his report concerning the message from God and the truth revealed by Jesus Christ.
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Happy is the one who reads this book, and happy are those who listen to the words of this prophetic message and obey what is written in this book! For the time is near when all these things will happen.
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From John to the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace be yours from God, who is, who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits in front of his throne,
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and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first to be raised from death and who is also the ruler of the kings of the world. He loves us, and by his sacrificial death he has freed us from our sins
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and made us a kingdom of priests to serve his God and Father. To Jesus Christ be the glory and power forever and ever! Amen.
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Look, he is coming on the clouds! Everyone will see him, including those who pierced him. All peoples on earth will mourn over him. So shall it be!
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"I am the first and the last," says the Lord God Almighty, who is, who was, and who is to come.
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I am John, your brother, and as a follower of Jesus I am your partner in patiently enduring the suffering that comes to those who belong to his Kingdom. I was put on the island of Patmos because I had proclaimed God's word and the truth that Jesus revealed.
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On the Lord's day the Spirit took control of me, and I heard a loud voice, that sounded like a trumpet, speaking behind me.
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It said, "Write down what you see, and send the book to the churches in these seven cities: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea."
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I turned around to see who was talking to me, and I saw seven gold lampstands,
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and among them there was what looked like a human being, wearing a robe that reached to his feet, and a gold band around his chest.
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His hair was white as wool, or as snow, and his eyes blazed like fire;
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his feet shone like brass that has been refined and polished, and his voice sounded like a roaring waterfall.
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He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp two-edged sword came out of his mouth. His face was as bright as the midday sun.
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When I saw him, I fell down at his feet like a dead man. He placed his right hand on me and said, "Don't be afraid! I am the first and the last.
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I am the living one! I was dead, but now I am alive forever and ever. I have authority over death and the world of the dead.
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Write, then, the things you see, both the things that are now and the things that will happen afterward.
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Here is the secret meaning of the seven stars that you see in my right hand, and of the seven gold lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
