2 Kings 24; 2 Kings 25; John 5:1-24

2 Kings 24

1 In his days Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon came up, and Joakim became his servant three years: then again he rebelled against him.

2 And the Lord sent against him the rovers of the Chaldees, and the rovers of Syria, and the rovers of Moab, and the rovers of the children of Ammon: and he sent them against Juda, to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which he had spoken by his servants, the prophets.

3 And this came by the word of the Lord against Juda, to remove them from before him for all the sins of Manasses which he did;

4 And for the innocent blood that he shed, filling Jerusalem with innocent blood: and therefore the Lord would not be appeased.

5 But the rest of the acts of Joakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? And Joakim slept with his fathers:

6 And Joachin, his son, reigned in his stead.

7 And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his own country: for the king of Babylon had taken all that had belonged to the king of Egypt, from the river of Egypt, unto the river Euphrates.

8 Joachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Nohesta, the daughter of Elnathan, of Jerusalem.

9 And he did evil before the Lord, according to all that his father had done.

10 At that time the servants of Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, came up against Jerusalem, and the city was surrounded with their forts.

11 And Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, came to the city, with his servants, to assault it.

12 And Joachin, king of Juda, went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his nobles, and his eunuchs: and the king of Babylon received him in the eighth year of his reign.

13 And he brought out from thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house: and he cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon, king of Israel, had made in the temple of the Lord, according to the word of the Lord.

14 And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the valiant men of the army, to the number of ten thousand, into captivity: and every artificer and smith: and none were left, but the poor sort of the people of the land.

15 And he carried away Joachin into Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his eunuchs: and the judges of the land he carried into captivity, from Jerusalem, into Babylon.

16 And all the strong men, seven thousand, and the artificers, and the smiths, a thousand, all that were valiant men, and fit for war: and the king of Babylon led them captives into Babylon.

17 And he appointed Matthanias, his uncle, in his stead: and called his name Sedecias.

18 Sedecias was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Amital, the daughter of Jeremias, of Lobna.

19 And he did evil before the Lord, according to all that Joakim had done.

20 For the Lord was angry against Jerusalem and against Juda, till he cast them out from his face: and Sedecias revolted from the king of Babylon.

2 Kings 25

1 And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, the tenth day of the month, that Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem: and they surrounded it: and raised works round about it.

2 And the city was shut up and besieged till the eleventh year of king Sedecias,

3 The ninth day of the month: and a famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.

4 And a breach was made into the city: and all the men of war fled in the night between the two walls by the king’s garden (now the Chaldees besieged the city round about), and Sedecias fled by the way that leadeth to the plains of the wilderness.

5 And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all the warriors that were with him were scattered, and left him:

6 So they took the king, and brought him to the king of Babylon, to Reblatha, and he gave judgment upon him.

7 And he slew the sons of Sedecias before his face, and he put out his eyes, and bound him with chains, and brought him to Babylon.

8 In the fifth month, the seventh day of the month, the same is the nineteenth year of the king of Babylon, came Nabuzardan, commander of the army, a servant of the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem.

9 And he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king’s house, and the houses of Jerusalem, and every great house he burnt with fire.

10 And all the army of the Chaldees, which was with the commander of the troops, broke down the walls of Jerusalem round about.

11 And Nabuzardan, the commander of the army, carried away the rest of the people, that remained in the city, and the fugitives, that had gone over to the king of Babylon, and the remnant of the common people.

12 But of the poor of the land he left some dressers of vines and husbandmen.

13 And the pillars of brass that were in the temple of the Lord, and the bases, and the sea of brass, which was in the house of the Lord, the Chaldees broke in pieces, and carried all the brass of them to Babylon.

14 They took away also the pots of brass, and the mazers, and the forks, and the cups, and the mortars, and all the vessels of brass, with which they ministered.

15 Moreover also the censers, and the bowls, such as were of gold in gold: and such as were of silver in silver, the general of the army took away.

16 That is, two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made in the temple of the Lord: the brass of all these vessels was without weight.

17 One pillar was eighteen cubits high: and the chapiter of brass, which was upon it, was three cubits high: and the network, and the pomegranates that were upon the chapiter of the pillar, were all of brass: and the second pillar had the like adorning.

18 And the general of the army took Seraias, the chief priest, and Sophonias, the second priest, and three doorkeepers:

19 And out of the city one eunuch, who was captain over the men of war: and five men of them who had stood before the king, whom he found in the city, and Sopher, the captain of the army, who exercised the young soldiers of the people of the land: and threescore men of the common people, who were found in the city:

20 These Nabuzardan, the general of the army, took away, and carried them to the king of Babylon, to Reblatha.

21 And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Reblatha, in the land of Emath: so Juda was carried away out of their land.

22 But over the people that remained in the land of Juda, which Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, had left, he gave the government to Godolias, the son of Ahicam, the son of Saphan.

23 And when all the captains of the soldiers had heard this, they and the men that were with them, to wit, that the king of Babylon had made Godolias governor they came to Godolias to Maspha, Ismael, the son of Nathanias, and Johanan, the son of Caree, and Saraia, the son of Thanehumeth, the Netophathite, and Jezonias, the son of Maachathi, they and their men.

24 And Godolias swore to them and to their men, saying: Be not afraid to serve the Chaldees: stay in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.

25 But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ismael, the son of Nathanias, the son of Elisama, of the seed royal came, and ten men with him, and smote Godolias; so that he died: and also the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him in Maspha.

26 And all the people, both little and great, and the captains of the soldiers, rising up, went to Egypt, fearing the Chaldees.

27 And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Joachin, king of Juda, in the twelfth month, the seven and twentieth day of the month: Evilmerodach, king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, lifted up the head of Joachin, king of Juda, out of prison.

28 And he spoke kindly to him: and he set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon.

29 And he changed his garments which he had in prison, and he ate bread always before him, all the days of his life.

30 And he appointed him a continual allowance, which was also given him by the king, day by day, all the days of his life.

John 5:1-24

1 After these things was a festival day of the Jews: and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

2 Now there is at Jerusalem a pond, called Probatica, which in Hebrew is named Bethsaida, having five porches.

3 In these lay a great multitude of sick, of blind, of lame, of withered: waiting for the moving of the water.

4 And an angel of the Lord descended at certain times into the pond and the water was moved. And he that went down first into the pond after the motion of the water was made whole of whatsoever infirmity he lay under.

5 And there was a certain man there that had been eight and thirty years under his infirmity.

6 Him when Jesus had seen lying, and knew that he had been now a long time, he saith to him: Wilt thou be made whole?

7 The infirm man answered him: Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pond. For whilst I am coming, another goeth down before me.

8 Jesus saith to him: Arise, take up thy bed and walk.

9 And immediately the man was made whole: and he took up his bed and walked. And it was the sabbath that day.

10 The Jews therefore said to him that was healed: It is the sabbath. It is not lawful for thee to take up thy bed.

11 He answered them: He that made me whole, he said to me: Take up thy bed and walk.

12 They asked him therefore: Who is that man who said to thee: Take up thy bed and walk?

13 But he who was healed knew not who it was: for Jesus went aside from the multitude standing in the place.

14 Afterwards, Jesus findeth him in the temple and saith to him: Behold thou art made whole: sin no more, lest some worse thing happen to thee.

15 The man went his way and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him whole.

16 Therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, because he did these things on the sabbath.

17 But Jesus answered them: My Father worketh until now; and I work.

18 Hereupon therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he did not only break the sabbath but also said God was his Father, making himself equal to God.

19 Then Jesus answered and said to them: Amen, amen, I say unto you, the Son cannot do any thing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever he doth, these the Son also doth in like manner.

20 For the Father loveth the Son and sheweth him all things which himself doth: and greater works than these will he shew him, that you may wonder.

21 For as the Father raiseth up the dead and giveth life: so the Son also giveth life to whom he will.

22 For neither does the Father judge any man: but hath given all judgment to the Son.

23 That all men may honour the Son, as they honour the Father. He who honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father who hath sent him.

24 Amen, amen, I say unto you that he who heareth my word and believeth him that sent me hath life everlasting: and cometh not into judgment, but is passed from death to life.