Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah
1 Zedekiah the son of Josiah, kwhom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah, reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim. 2 lBut neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the Lord that he spoke through Jeremiah the prophet.
3 King Zedekiah sent mJehucal the son of Shelemiah, and nZephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “Please pray for us to the Lord our God.” 4 Now Jeremiah was still going in and out among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison. 5 The army of Pharaoh had come out of Egypt. And when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.
6 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet: 7 “Thus says the Lord, God of Israel: Thus shall you say to the king of Judah who sent you to me to inquire of me, ‘Behold, oPharaoh’s army that came to help you is about to return to Egypt, to its own land. 8 And pthe Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city. They shall capture it and qburn it with fire. 9 Thus says the Lord, Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely go away from us,” for they will not go away. 10 For even if you should defeat the whole army of Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and there remained of them only wounded men, every man in his tent, they would rise up and burn this city with fire.’”
Jeremiah Imprisoned
11 Now when the Chaldean army had withdrawn from Jerusalem at the approach of Pharaoh’s army, 12 Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to receive his portion there among the people. 13 When he was at the rBenjamin Gate, a sentry there named Irijah the son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are deserting to the Chaldeans.” 14 And Jeremiah said, “It is a lie; I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.” But Irijah would not listen to him, and seized Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. 15 And the officials were enraged at Jeremiah, and they beat him and simprisoned him in the house of Jonathan the secretary, for it had been made a prison.
16 When Jeremiah had come to the dungeon cells and remained there many days, 17 King Zedekiah sent for him and received him. The king questioned him tsecretly in his house and said, “Is there any word from the Lord?” Jeremiah said, “There is.” Then he said, u“You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.” 18 Jeremiah also said to King Zedekiah, “What wrong have I done to you or your servants or this people, that you have put me in prison? 19 Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you and against this land’? 20 Now hear, please, O my lord the king: let my vhumble plea come before you and do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary, lest I die there.” 21 So King Zedekiah gave orders, and they committed Jeremiah to the wcourt of the guard. And a loaf of bread was given him daily from the bakers’ street, xuntil all the bread of the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
The Great Prostitute and the Beast
1 Then one of the wseven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the xgreat prostitute ywho is seated on many waters, 2 zwith whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the awine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” 3 And he bcarried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of cblasphemous names, and it had dseven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was arrayed ein purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a fgolden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. 5 And on her gforehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations.” 6 And I saw the woman, hdrunk with the iblood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.1
When I saw her, I marveled greatly. 7 But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. 8 The beast that you saw jwas, and is not, and is about to krise from the bottomless pit2 and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the lbook of life from the foundation of the world will mmarvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. 9 nThis calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; 10 they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. 11 As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. 12 And othe ten horns that you saw are ten pkings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. 13 These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. 14 They will make war on the qLamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is rLord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”
15 And the angel3 said to me, “The waters that you saw, swhere the prostitute is seated, are tpeoples and multitudes and nations and languages. 16 And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire, 17 for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and handing over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. 18 And the woman that you saw is uthe great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.”
33 And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), 34 they yoffered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. 35 And when they had crucified him, they zdivided his garments among them by casting lots. 36 Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. 37 And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” 38 Then two robbers were crucified awith him, bone on the right and one on the left. 39 And those who cpassed by derided him, dwagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who would edestroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” 41 So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, 42 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 fHe trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.
The Death of Jesus
45 gNow from the sixth hour1 there was hdarkness over all the land2 until the ninth hour.3 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus icried out with a loud voice, saying, j“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” 47 And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” 48 And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with ksour wine, and put it on a reed and lgave it to him to drink. 49 But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether mElijah will come to save him.” 50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
51 And behold, the ncurtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. 52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had ofallen asleep were raised, 53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 54 pWhen the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the qearthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son4 of God!”
55 There were also many rwomen there, looking on sfrom a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him, 56 among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
