2 Chronicles 36; Revelation 22; Malachi 4; John 21

red bookmark icon blue bookmark icon gold bookmark icon
2 Chronicles 36

Judah’s Decline

mThe people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and made him king in his father’s place in Jerusalem. Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. Then the king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and nlaid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent1 of gold. And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz his brother and carried him to Egypt.

oJehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. pAgainst him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon qand bound him in chains rto take him to Babylon. sNebuchadnezzar also carried part of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon and put them in his palace in Babylon. tNow the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and the abominations that he did, and what was found against him, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.

uJehoiachin was eighteen2 years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. 10 In vthe spring of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, wwith the precious vessels of the house of the Lord, and made his brother xZedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

11 yZedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 12 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. He did not humble himself before zJeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the Lord. 13 aHe also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. bHe stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord, the God of Israel. 14 All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the Lord that he had made holy in Jerusalem.

15 The Lord, the God of their fathers, csent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 dBut they kept mocking the messengers of God, edespising his words and scoffing at his prophets, funtil the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy.

Jerusalem Captured and Burned

17 gTherefore he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged. He gave them all into his hand. 18 hAnd all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon. 19 iAnd they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its precious vessels. 20 He jtook into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, kand they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, 21 to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had lenjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate mit kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

The Proclamation of Cyrus

22 nNow in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, othat the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, pthe Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: 23 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up.


Revelation 22

The River of Life

Then the angel1 showed me xthe river of ythe water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of zthe street of the city; aalso, on either side of the river, bthe tree of life2 with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were cfor the healing of the nations. dNo longer will there be anything accursed, but ethe throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and fhis servants will worship him. gThey will see his face, and hhis name will be on their foreheads. And inight will be no more. They will need no light of lamp jor sun, for kthe Lord God will be their light, and lthey will reign forever and ever.

Jesus Is Coming

And he said to me, mThese words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of nthe spirits of the prophets, ohas sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.

And behold, pI am coming soon. qBlessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.

I, rJohn, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, sI fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, sbut he said to me, You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those mwho keep the words of this book. Worship God.

10 And he said to me, tDo not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. 11 uLet the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.

12 Behold, vI am coming soon, wbringing my recompense with me, xto repay each one for what he has done. 13 yI am the Alpha and the Omega, zthe first and the last, athe beginning and the end.

14 Blessed are those who bwash their robes,3 so that they may have the right to cthe tree of life and that dthey may enter the city by the gates. 15 eOutside are fthe dogs gand sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

16 hI, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things ifor the churches. I am jthe root and kthe descendant of David, lthe bright morning star.

17 The Spirit and mthe Bride say, Come. And let the one who hears say, Come. And nlet the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the owater of life without price.

18 I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: pif anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in qthe tree of life and in rthe holy city, which are described in this book.

20 He who testifies to these things says, Surely sI am coming soon. Amen. tCome, Lord Jesus!

21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.4 Amen.


Malachi 4

The Great Day of the Lord

For behold, rthe day is coming, sburning like an oven, when tall the arrogant and tall evildoers uwill be stubble. The day that is coming ushall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you vwho fear my name, wthe sun xof righteousness shall rise ywith healing in its wings. You shall go out zleaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, aon the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.

bRemember cthe law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules1 that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.

dBehold, I will send you eElijah the prophet fbefore the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And he will gturn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and hstrike the land with a decree of utter destruction.2


John 21

Jesus Appears to Seven Disciples

After this Jesus brevealed himself cagain to the disciples by dthe Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, eThomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of fCana in Galilee, gthe sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, I am going fishing. They said to him, We will go with you. They went out and got into the boat, but hthat night they caught nothing.

Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples idid not know that it was Jesus. jJesus said to them, Children, do you have any fish? They answered him, No. kHe said to them, Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some. So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. That disciple lwhom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, It is the Lord! When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, mhe put on his outer garment, for he was nstripped for work, and othrew himself into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards1 off.

When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, Bring some of the fish that you have just caught. 11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, pCome and qhave breakfast. Now rnone of the disciples dared ask him, Who are you? They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and stook the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. 14 tThis was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Jesus and Peter

15 When they had ufinished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, vSimon, wson of John, xdo you love me more than these? He said to him, Yes, Lord; you know that I love you. He said to him, Feed ymy lambs. 16 He said to him a second time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? He said to him, Yes, Lord; you know that I love you. He said to him, zTend ymy sheep. 17 He said to him the third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me? Peter was grieved because he said to him athe third time, Do you love me? and he said to him, Lord, byou know everything; you know that I love you. Jesus said to him, Feed cmy sheep. 18 dTruly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, eyou used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go. 19 (This he said to show fby what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, gFollow me.

Jesus and the Beloved Apostle

20 Peter turned and saw hthe disciple whom Jesus loved following them, ithe one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, Lord, who is it that is going to betray you? 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, Lord, what about this man? 22 Jesus said to him, If it is my will that he remain juntil kI come, what is that to you? lYou follow me! 23 So the saying spread abroad among mthe brothers2 that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?

24 This is the disciple nwho is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and owe know pthat his testimony is true.

25 Now qthere are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that rthe world itself could not contain the books that would be written.