One Year Bible.

The Transfiguration

¹Then Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God arrive with power.”

²After six days Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There He was transfigured before them. ³His clothes became radiantly white, brighter than any launderer on earth could bleach them. ⁴And Elijah and Moses appeared before them, talking with Jesus.

⁵Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters— one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁶For they were all so terrified that Peter did not know what else to say.

⁷Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him!” ⁸Suddenly, when they looked around, they saw no one with them except Jesus.

⁹As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus admonished them not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. ¹⁰So they kept this matter to themselves, discussing what it meant to rise from the dead. ¹¹And they asked Jesus, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

¹²He replied, “Elijah does indeed come first, and he restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected? ¹³But I tell you that Elijah has indeed come, and they have done to him whatever they wished, just as it is written about him.”

The Boy with an Evil Spirit

¹⁴When they returned to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. ¹⁵As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were filled with awe and ran to greet Him.

¹⁶“What are you disputing with them?” He asked.

¹⁷Someone in the crowd replied, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a spirit that makes him mute. ¹⁸Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked Your disciples to drive it out, but they were unable.”

¹⁹“O unbelieving generation!” Jesus replied. “How long must I remain with you? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to Me.”

²⁰So they brought him, and seeing Jesus, the spirit immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

²¹Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has this been with him?”

“From childhood,” he said. ²²“It often throws him into the fire or into the water, trying to kill him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

²³“If You can?” echoed Jesus. “All things are possible to him who believes!”

²⁴Immediately the boy’s father cried out, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”

²⁵When Jesus saw that a crowd had come running, He rebuked the unclean spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” He said, “I command you to come out and never enter him again.”

²⁶After shrieking and convulsing him violently, the spirit came out. The boy became like a corpse, so that many said, “He is dead.” ²⁷But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up.

²⁸After Jesus had gone into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”

²⁹Jesus answered, “This kind cannot come out, except by prayer.”

The Second Prediction of the Passion

³⁰Going on from there, they passed through Galilee. But Jesus did not want anyone to know, ³¹because He was teaching His disciples. He told them, “The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill Him, and after three days He will rise.” ³²But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him about it.

The Greatest in the Kingdom

³³Then they came to Capernaum. While Jesus was in the house, He asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” ³⁴But they were silent, for on the way they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest.

³⁵Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “If anyone wants to be first, he must be the last of all and the servant of all.”

³⁶Then He had a little child stand among them. Taking the child in His arms, He said to them, ³⁷“Whoever welcomes one of these little children in My name welcomes Me, and whoever welcomes Me welcomes not only Me, but the One who sent Me.”

³⁸John said to Him, “Teacher, we saw someone else driving out demons in Your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not accompany us.”

³⁹“Do not stop him,” Jesus replied. “For no one who performs a miracle in My name can turn around and speak evil of Me. ⁴⁰For whoever is not against us is for us. ⁴¹Indeed, if anyone gives you even a cup of water because you bear the name of Christ, truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.

Temptations and Trespasses

⁴²But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be thrown into the sea.

⁴³If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two hands and go into hell, into the unquenchable fire. ⁴⁵If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. ⁴⁷And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, ⁴⁸where ‘their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.’

Good Salt

⁴⁹For everyone will be salted with fire.

⁵⁰Salt is good, but if the salt loses its saltiness, with what will you season it? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

Nebuchadnezzar Besieges Jerusalem

¹So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it. ²And the city was kept under siege until King Zedekiah’s eleventh year.

³By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food. ⁴Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden.

They headed toward the Arabah, ⁵but the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and his whole army deserted him. ⁶The Chaldeans seized the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where they pronounced judgment on him. ⁷And they slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.

The Temple Destroyed

⁸On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign over Babylon, Nebuzaradan captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. ⁹He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem — every significant building. ¹⁰And the whole army of the Chaldeans under the captain of the guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.

¹¹Then Nebuzaradan captain of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the deserters who had defected to the king of Babylon and the rest of the population. ¹²But the captain of the guard left behind some of the poorest of the land to tend the vineyards and fields.

¹³Moreover, the Chaldeans broke up the bronze pillars and stands and the bronze Sea in the house of the LORD, and they carried the bronze to Babylon. ¹⁴They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, dishes, and all the articles of bronze used in the temple service. ¹⁵The captain of the guard also took away the censers and sprinkling bowls— anything made of pure gold or fine silver.

¹⁶As for the two pillars, the Sea, and the movable stands that Solomon had made for the house of the LORD, the weight of the bronze from all these articles was beyond measure. ¹⁷Each pillar was eighteen cubits tall. The bronze capital atop one pillar was three cubits high, with a network of bronze pomegranates all around. The second pillar, with its network, was similar.

Captives Carried to Babylon

¹⁸The captain of the guard also took away Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest of second rank, and the three doorkeepers. ¹⁹Of those still in the city, he took a court official who had been appointed over the men of war, as well as five royal advisors. He also took the scribe of the captain of the army, who had enlisted the people of the land, and sixty men who were found in the city.

²⁰Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. ²¹There at Riblah in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death. So Judah was taken into exile, away from its own land.

Gedaliah Governs in Judah

²²Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, over the people he had left behind in the land of Judah.

²³When all the commanders of the armies and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah — Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite, as well as their men. ²⁴And Gedaliah took an oath before them and their men, assuring them, “Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you.”

The Murder of Gedaliah

²⁵In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family, came with ten men and struck down and killed Gedaliah, along with the Judeans and Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. ²⁶Then all the people small and great, together with the commanders of the army, arose and fled to Egypt for fear of the Chaldeans.

Jehoiachin Released from Prison

²⁷On the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Judah’s King Jehoiachin, in the year Evil-merodach became king of Babylon, he released King Jehoiachin of Judah from prison. ²⁸And he spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and set his throne above the thrones of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.

²⁹So Jehoiachin changed out of his prison clothes, and he dined regularly at the king’s table for the rest of his life. ³⁰And the king provided Jehoiachin a daily portion for the rest of his life.

Jehoahaz Succeeds Josiah

¹Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king in Jerusalem in place of his father.

²Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. ³And the king of Egypt dethroned him in Jerusalem and imposed on Judah a levy of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.

⁴Then Neco king of Egypt made Eliakim brother of Jehoahaz king over Judah and Jerusalem, and he changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Eliakim’s brother Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt.

Jehoiakim Reigns in Judah

⁵Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD his God.

⁶Then Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jehoiakim and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon. ⁷Nebuchadnezzar also took to Babylon some of the articles from the house of the LORD, and he put them in his temple in Babylon.

⁸As for the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, the abominations he committed, and all that was found against him, they are indeed written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And his son Jehoiachin reigned in his place.

Jehoiachin Reigns in Judah

⁹Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months and ten days. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD.

¹⁰In the spring, King Nebuchadnezzar summoned Jehoiachin and brought him to Babylon, along with the articles of value from the house of the LORD. And he made Jehoiachin’s relative Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

Zedekiah Reigns in Judah

¹¹Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. ¹²And he did evil in the sight of the LORD his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke for the LORD.

¹³He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. But Zedekiah stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD, the God of Israel. ¹⁴Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people multiplied their unfaithful deeds, following all the abominations of the nations, and they defiled the house of the LORD, which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.

The Fall of Jerusalem

¹⁵Again and again the LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to His people through His messengers because He had compassion on them and on His dwelling place. ¹⁶But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.

¹⁷So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who put their young men to the sword in the sanctuary, sparing neither young men nor young women, neither elderly nor infirm. God gave them all into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, ¹⁸who carried off everything to Babylon— all the articles of the house of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD and of the king and his officials. ¹⁹Then the Chaldeans set fire to the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem. They burned down all the palaces and destroyed every article of value.

²⁰Those who escaped the sword were carried by Nebuchadnezzar into exile in Babylon, and they became servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power.

²¹So the land enjoyed its Sabbath rest all the days of the desolation, until seventy years were completed, in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah.

The Proclamation of Cyrus

²²In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia to send a proclamation throughout his kingdom and to put it in writing as follows:

²³“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:

‘The LORD, the God of heaven, who has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, has appointed me to build a house for Him at Jerusalem in Judah.

Whoever among you belongs to His people, may the LORD his God be with him, and may he go up.’”