Today's Reading

¹Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and his mother's name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.

²He did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.

³For through the anger of the Lord it happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

⁴It happened in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about.

⁵So the city was besieged to the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.

⁶In the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the famine was severe in the city, so that there was no bread for the people of the land.

⁷Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled, and went forth out of the city by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, which was by the king's garden; (now the Chaldeans were against the city all around;) and they went toward the Arabah.

⁸But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and all his army was scattered from him.

⁹Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he gave judgment on him.

¹⁰The king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes: he killed also all the princes of Judah in Riblah.

¹¹He put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in fetters, and carried him to Babylon, and put him in prison until the day of his death.

¹²Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, who stood before the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem:

¹³and he burned the house of the Lord, and the king's house; and all the houses of Jerusalem, even every great house, burned he with fire.

¹⁴All the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls of Jerusalem all around.

¹⁵Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the poorest of the people, and the residue of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who fell to the king of Babylon, and the residue of the multitude.

¹⁶But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to be vineyard keepers and farmers.

¹⁷The Chaldeans broke the pillars of brass that were in the house of the Lord, and the bases and the bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord in pieces, and carried all their bronze to Babylon.

¹⁸They also took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and all the vessels of brass with which they ministered.

¹⁹The captain of the guard took away the cups, the fire pans, the basins, the pots, the lampstands, the spoons, and the bowls; that which was of gold, in gold, and that which was of silver, in silver.

²⁰They took the two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze bulls that were under the bases, which king Solomon had made for the house of the Lord. The brass of all these vessels was without weight.

²¹As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits; and a line of twelve cubits encircled it; and its thickness was four fingers. It was hollow.

²²A capital of brass was on it; and the height of the one capital was five cubits, with network and pomegranates on the capital all around, all of brass: and the second pillar also had like these, and pomegranates.

²³There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates were one hundred on the network all around.

²⁴The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold:

²⁵and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war; and seven men of those who saw the king's face, who were found in the city; and the scribe of the captain of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the midst of the city.

²⁶Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah.

²⁷The king of Babylon struck them, and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away captive out of his land.

²⁸This is the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year three thousand twenty-three Jews;

²⁹in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty-two persons;

³⁰in the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadnezzar Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty-five persons: all the persons were four thousand and six hundred.

³¹It happened in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah, and brought him forth out of prison;

³²and he spoke kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon,

³³and changed his prison garments. Jehoiachin ate bread before him continually all the days of his life:

³⁴and for his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him by the king of Babylon, every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days of his life.

¹ALEPH How the city sits solitary, that was full of people! She has become as a widow, who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a forced laborer!

²She weeps bitterly in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her enemies.

³Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and harsh servitude; she dwells among the nations, she finds no rest: all her persecutors overtook her in the midst of her distress.

⁴The roads to Zion mourn, because no one comes to the solemn assembly; all her gates are desolate, her priests groan: her virgins are afflicted, and she herself is in bitterness.

⁵Her adversaries have become the head, her enemies prosper; for the Lord has afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her young children have gone into captivity before the adversary.

⁶All majesty has departed from the daughter of Zion: her leaders have become like deer that find no pasture, they fled exhausted before the pursuer.

⁷Jerusalem remembers in the days of her affliction and wandering all her precious things that were from the days of old: when her people fell into the hand of the adversary, and no one helped her. The adversaries saw her, they mocked at her desolations.

⁸Jerusalem has grievously sinned; therefore she has become as an unclean thing; all who honored her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yes, she groans, and turns away.

⁹Her filthiness was in her skirts; she did not remember her latter end; therefore her fall was astonishing; she has no comforter. "Look, Lord, on my affliction, for the enemy has magnified himself."

¹⁰The adversary has spread out his hand on all her precious things: for she has seen that the nations have entered into her sanctuary, concerning whom you commanded that they should not enter into your assembly.

¹¹All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their precious things for food to refresh the soul. "Look, Lord, and see, for I am despised."

¹²Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look, and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which is brought on me, with which the Lord has afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.

¹³From on high he has sent fire into my bones, and it overcame them. He has spread a net for my feet, he has turned me back. He has made me desolate and faint all the day.

¹⁴My transgressions are bound into a yoke; by his hand they are fastened together, they are set upon my neck; he has made my strength to fail. The Lord has delivered me into their hands, against whom I am not able to stand.

¹⁵The Lord has rejected all my mighty men in my midst; he has called a solemn assembly against me to crush my young men. The Lord has trodden as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah.

¹⁶For these things I weep; my eyes, my eyes flow with tears; because the comforter who should refresh my soul is far from me. My children are desolate, because the enemy has prevailed.

¹⁷Zion spreads forth her hands; there is none to comfort her. The Lord has commanded concerning Jacob, that those who are around him should be his adversaries. Jerusalem is among them as an unclean thing.

¹⁸The Lord is righteous, for I have rebelled against his commandment. Please listen all you people, and see my suffering. My virgins and my young men have gone into captivity.

¹⁹I called for my lovers, but they deceived me. My priests and my elders perished in the city, while they searched for food to refresh their souls.

²⁰See, Lord, for I am in distress; my stomach churns; my heart is turned within me; for I have grievously rebelled. Outside the sword bereaves, inside there is death.

²¹They have heard that I groan; there is none to comfort me. All my enemies have heard of my trouble; they are glad that you have done it. Bring the day that you have proclaimed, so that they shall end up like me.

²²Let all their wickedness come before you. Do to them, as you have done to me for all my transgressions. For my groans are many, and my heart is faint.

¹ALEPH How the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger! He has cast down from heaven to the earth the splendor of Israel, and hasn't remembered his footstool in the day of his anger.

²The Lord has swallowed up all the habitations of Jacob, and has not pitied. He has thrown down in his wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah. He has brought them down to the ground; he has humiliated the kingdom and its princes.

³He has cut off in fierce anger all the strength of Israel. He has drawn back his right hand before the enemy. He has blazed in Jacob like a flaming fire, which devours all around.

⁴He has bent his bow like an enemy; his right hand he has positioned like an adversary. He killed all that were pleasant to the eye. In the tent of the daughter of Zion he has poured out his wrath like fire.

⁵The Lord has become as an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel; he has swallowed up all her palaces and has destroyed its strongholds. He has multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.

⁶He has done violence to his temple, as if it were a garden; he has destroyed his place of assembly. The Lord has caused solemn assembly and Sabbath to be forgotten in Zion. He has spurned in his fierce anger the king and the priest.

⁷The Lord has rejected his altar, he has disowned his sanctuary, and has given up into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces. They have made a shout in the house of the Lord, as in the day of a solemn assembly.

⁸The Lord has determined to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He has stretched out the line, he has not withdrawn his hand from destroying. He has made the rampart and wall to lament; they languish together.

⁹Her gates are sunk into the ground; he has destroyed and broken her bars. Her king and her princes are among the nations where the law is no more, and her prophets find no vision from the Lord.

¹⁰The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence. They have cast up dust on their heads; they have clothed themselves with sackcloth. The virgins of Jerusalem hang down their heads to the ground.

¹¹My eyes are worn out from weeping, my stomach is churning. My heart is poured on the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the young children and the infants faint in the streets of the city.

¹²They tell their mothers, "Where is grain and wine?" When they faint as the wounded in the streets of the city, as their lives fade away in their mothers' bosom.

¹³What shall I testify of you? What shall I liken to you, daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I compare to you, that I may comfort you, virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin is great like the sea. Who can heal you?

¹⁴Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions. They have not uncovered your iniquity, to bring back your captivity, but have seen for you false and misleading oracles.

¹⁵All that pass by clap their hands at you, they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, "Is this the city that men called 'The perfection of beauty,' 'The joy of the whole earth'?"

¹⁶All your enemies have opened wide their mouth against you. They hiss and gnash the teeth; they say, "We have swallowed her up. Certainly this is the day that we looked for; we have found, we have seen it."

¹⁷The Lord has done that which he purposed, he has fulfilled his word that he commanded in the days of old. He has thrown down, and has not pitied. He has caused the enemy to gloat over you and exalted the horn of your adversaries.

¹⁸Their heart cried to the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night. Give yourself no respite; do not let your tears cease.

¹⁹Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches. Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord. Lift up your hands toward him for the life of your young children, that faint for hunger at the head of every street.

²⁰Look, Lord, and see to whom you have done like this! Shall the women eat their fruit, the children that are dandled in the hands? Shall the priest and the prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?

²¹The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets; my virgins and my young men have fallen by the sword. You have killed them in the day of your anger; you have slaughtered, without pity.

²²You have called, as in the day of a solemn assembly, my terrors on every side. There was none that escaped or remained in the day of the Lord's anger. Those that I have borne and brought up has my enemy destroyed.

¹Therefore we ought to pay greater attention to the things that were heard, so that we will not drift away.

²For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense;

³how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation-which at the first having been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard;

⁴God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders, by various works of power, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to his own will?

⁵For he did not subject the world to come, of which we speak, to angels.

⁶But one has somewhere testified, saying, "What is man, that you think of him? Or the son of man, that you care for him?

⁷You made him a little lower than the angels. You crowned him with glory and honor.

⁸[You have put all things in subjection under his feet.]" For in that he subjected all things to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not see all things subjected to him, yet.

⁹But we see him who has been made a little lower than the angels, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he should taste of death for everyone.

¹⁰For it became him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many children to glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

¹¹For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brothers,

¹²saying, "I will declare your name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise."

¹³Again, "I will put my trust in him." Again, "Behold, here I am with the children whom God has given me."

¹⁴Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,

¹⁵and might deliver all of them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

¹⁶For, truly, he did not come to help the angels, but to help the seed of Abraham.

¹⁷Therefore he was obligated in all things to be made like his brothers, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.

¹⁸For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.

¹Wine is a mocker, and beer is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

²The terror of a king is like the roaring of a lion. He who provokes him to anger forfeits his own life.

³It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife; but every fool will be quarreling.

⁴The sluggard will not plow by reason of the winter; therefore he shall beg in harvest, and have nothing.

⁵Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out.

⁶Many men claim to be men of unfailing love, but who can find a faithful man?

⁷A righteous man walks in integrity. Blessed are his children after him.

⁸A king who sits on the throne of judgment scatters away all evil with his eyes.

⁹Who can say, "I have made my heart pure. I am clean and without sin?"

¹⁰Differing weights and differing measures, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord.

¹¹Even a child makes himself known by his doings, whether his work is pure, and whether it is right.

¹²The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, The Lord has made even both of them.

¹³Do not love sleep, lest you come to poverty. Open your eyes, and you shall be satisfied with bread.

¹⁴"It's no good, it's no good," says the buyer; but when he is gone his way, then he boasts.

¹⁵There is gold and abundance of rubies; but the lips of knowledge are a rare jewel.

¹⁶Take the garment of one who puts up collateral for a stranger; and hold him in pledge for a wayward woman.

¹⁷Fraudulent food is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouth is filled with gravel.

¹⁸Plans are established by advice; by wise guidance you wage war!

¹⁹He who goes about as a tale-bearer reveals secrets; therefore do not keep company with him who opens wide his lips.

²⁰Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in blackness of darkness.

²¹An inheritance quickly gained at the beginning, won't be blessed in the end.

²²Do not say, "I will pay back evil." Wait for the Lord, and he will save you.

²³The Lord detests differing weights, and dishonest scales are not pleasing.

²⁴A man's steps are from the Lord; how then can man understand his way?

²⁵It is a snare to a man to make a rash dedication, then later to consider his vows.

²⁶A wise king winnows out the wicked, and drives the threshing wheel over them.

²⁷The spirit of man is the Lord's lamp, searching all his innermost parts.

²⁸Love and faithfulness keep the king safe. His throne is sustained by love.

²⁹The glory of young men is their strength. The splendor of old men is their gray hair.

³⁰Wounding blows cleanse away evil, and beatings purge the innermost parts.