Immerse: Bible Reading Experience - NLT Daily Bible In A Year

Immerse Bible Reading: Day 242 - Zedekiah's Reign and Jerusalem's Fall

In this episode of the Immerse Bible Reading Experience, we cover Day 242, detailing the tumultuous period of Zedekiah's reign. Zedekiah became king at 21 and reigned in Jerusalem for 11 years, marked by actions that were displeasing to the Lord. The episode recounts the siege of Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the severe famine, the ultimate fall of the city, and the brutal consequences for Zedekiah and his family. Further, it describes the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem's temple and important buildings, the exile of the city's remaining inhabitants, and the appointment of Gedaliah as governor. The episode also touches on the tragic assassination of Gedaliah and the subsequent flight to Egypt by the people of Judah. In a turn of events, the script concludes with the reign of Evil-Merodach and his kindness towards the exiled King Jehoiachin of Judah, releasing him from prison and providing for him.

00:00 Introduction to Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience
00:04 Zedekiah's Reign and Rebellion
00:36 The Siege of Jerusalem
01:06 The Fall of Jerusalem
01:50 The Babylonian Destruction
02:21 The Aftermath and Exile
02:42 The Fate of the Temple Treasures
03:37 The Captivity of Judah's Leaders
04:23 Gedaliah's Governorship and Assassination
05:43 Joachin's Release and Favor
06:23 Conclusion and Farewell

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Volume 3 — Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Samuel–Kings
Kingdoms
Immerse: Kingdoms is the third of six volumes in Immerse: The Bible Reading Experience. Kingdoms presents a new and unique journey through the story of Israel from the time of its conquest of Canaan (Joshua) through its struggle to settle the land (Judges, Ruth) and the establishment of Israel’s kingdom, which ends in a forced exile (Samuel–Kings). The nation of Israel, commissioned to be God’s light to the nations, falls to division and then foreign conquest for rejecting God’s rule.

4 Questions to get your conversations started:
1. What stood out to you this week?
2. Was there anything confusing or troubling?
3. Did anything make you think differently about God?
4. How might this change the way we live?

QUICK START GUIDE
3 ways to get the most out of your experience
  1. Use Immerse: Beginnings instead of your regular chapter and verse Bible. This special reader’s edition restores the Bible to its natural simplicity and beauty by removing chapter and verse numbers and other historical additions. Letters look like letters, songs look like songs, and the original literary structures are visible in each book.
  2. Commit to making this a community experience. Immerse is designed for groups to encounter large portions of the Bible together
    for 8 weeks–more like a book club, less like a Bible study. By meeting every week in small groups and discussing what you read in open,
    honest conversations, you and your community can come together to be transformed through an authentic experience with the Scriptures.
  3. Aim to understand the big story. Read through “The Stories and the Story” (p. 483) to see how the books of the Bible work together to tell God’s story of his creation’s restoration. As you read through Immerse: Beginnings, rather than ask, “How do I fit God into my busy life?” begin asking, “How can I join in God’s great plan by living out my part in his story?”

What is Immerse: Bible Reading Experience - NLT Daily Bible In A Year?

Take a breath, find your place, and read deeply. Discover the joy of reading God’s word with the Immerse New Living Translation (NLT) Bible.

This daily Bible podcast will take you through the Bible in a year following the Immerse Bible Reading Experience. So grab your family and small group and go through the Bible in a year together with Immerse. Each of the 6 volumes is available online or at your favorite Christian bookstore.

Ethan: Welcome To Immerse: The
Daily Bible Reading Experience.

Day 200 and 42

zedekiah was 21 years old
when he became King, and he

reigned in Jerusalem 11 years.

His mother was, he Mutal the daughter
of Jeremiah from Lyna, but Zetia did

what was evil in the Lord's sight.

Just as Jehoiakim had done, these things
happened because of the Lord's anger

against the people of Jerusalem and Judah.

Until he finally banished them
from his presence and sent them

into exile, Zedekiah rebelled
against the king of Babylon.

So on January 15th, during the
ninth year of Zedekiah's reign,

king Nebu NR of Babylon led his
entire army against Jerusalem.

They surrounded the city and built
siege ramps against its walls.

Jerusalem was kept under siege until
the 11th year of Kings ETA's reign.

On July 18th, in the 11th year of
Zeta Chi's Rain, the famine in the

city had become very severe, and the
last of the food was entirely gone.

Then a section of the
city wall was broken down.

Since the city was surrounded
by the Babylonians, the soldiers

waited for nightfall and escaped
through the gate between the two

walls behind the King's Garden.

Then they headed toward the Jordan Valley.

But the Babylonian troops chased the king
and overtook him on the plains of Jericho.

For his men had all
deserted him and scattered.

They captured the king and took him
to the king of Babylon at Rla, where

they pronounced judgment upon Zakiah.

They made Zeta chia watch as
they slaughtered his sons.

Then they gouged out Zedekiah's
eyes, bound him in bronze chains,

and led him away to Babylon.

On August 14th of that year, which was
the 19th year of King Nebuchadnezzar's

reign, NEBA Zer Raiden, the captain
of the Guard and an official of the

Babylonian king, arrived in Jerusalem.

He burned down the temple of
the Lord, the royal palace, and

all the houses of Jerusalem.

He destroyed all the important
buildings in the city.

Then he supervised the entire
Babylonian army as they tore down

the walls of Jerusalem on every side.

Then Nebuzaradan, the captain of the
guard, took as exiles the rest of

the people who remained in the city,
the defectors who had declared their

allegiance to the king of Babylon
and the rest of the population.

But the captain of the guard allowed some
of the poorest people to stay behind.

To care for the vineyards and fields.

The Babylonians broke up the bronze
pillars in front of the Lord's temple,

the bronze water carts and the great
bronze basin called the sea, and they

carried all the bronze away to Babylon.

They also took all the ash buckets,
shovels, lamp, snuffers, ladles, and

all the other bronze articles used
for making sacrifices at the temple.

The captain of the guard also
took the incense, burners, and

basins, and all the other articles
made of pure gold or silver.

The weight of the bronze from the
two pillars, the sea and the water

carts was too great to be measured.

These things had been made for the
Lord's temple in the days of Solomon.

Each of the pillars was 27 feet tall.

The bronze capital on top of each
pillar was seven and a half feet high,

and was decorated with a network of
bronze pomegranates all the way around.

Nebuzaradan, the captain of the
guard took with him as prisoners,

Serayah, the high priest, Zephaniah,
the priest of the second rank

and the three chief gatekeepers.

And from among the people still hiding
in the city, he took an officer who

had been in charge of the Judean army.

Five of the King's personal advisors,
the Army commander's chief secretary,

who was in charge of recruitment and
60 other citizens, NEBA Zaden, the

captain of the guard, took them all to
the king of Babylon at Rla, and there

at RLA in the land of Hamoth, the king
of Babylon had them all put to death.

So the people of Judah were
sent into exile from their land.

Then King Nebu NR appointed Galella,
son of a Hakum, the grandson of Shahan

as governor over the people he had left
in Judah when all the Army commanders

and their men learned that the King of
Babylon had appointed Galella as governor.

They went to see him at mpa.

These included Ishmael, son of Niah,
Johannan son of Korea, reha son of

Tan Heith, the Neite Zeniah son of
the Meite, and all their men get Alaya

vowed to them that the Babylonian
officials meant them no harm.

Don't be afraid of them.

Live in the land and serve the king of
Babylon and all will go well for you.

He promised.

But in mid-autumn of that year, Ishmael
son of Naiah and grandson of Ishma,

who was a member of the royal family,
went to MPA with 10 men and killed gal.

He also killed all the Judeans and
Babylonians who were with him at mpa.

Then all the people of Judah from the
least to the greatest, as well as the

army commanders fled in panic to Egypt.

For, they were afraid of what
the Babylonians would do to them.

In the 37th year of the exile of King
Jo Joaquin of Judah evil, Medak ascended

to the Babylonian throne, he was kind to
Jo Joaquin and released him from prison.

On April 2nd of that year, he
spoke kindly to Jo Joaquin and

gave him a higher place than all
the other exiled kings in Babylon.

He supplied Jo Jolla kin with new
clothes to replace his prison garb

and allowed him to dine in the King's
presence for the rest of his life.

So the king gave him a regular
food allowance as long as he lived.

This concludes today's
Immerse Reading experience.

Thank you for joining us.