And also all the Judeans who [were] in Moab, and among the {Ammonites}, and in Edom, and who [were] in all the lands, [when] they heard that the king of Babylon had given a remnant to Judah and that he had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, [in an official position] over them,

And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah got up, {along with} the ten men who were with him, and they struck Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword and killed him whom the king of Babylon had appointed [in an official position] over the land.

then men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, eighty men [with] shaven beards and torn garments, [who had] cut themselves with blades, {having} grain offerings and frankincense in their hands to bring [to] the {temple} of Yahweh.

Now the pit [into] which Ishmael threw all the corpses of the men whom he had killed {along with} Gedaliah [was the same one] that King Asa had made because of Baasha the king of Israel, [who was] against him. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled [it with] the slain ones.

Then Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people who [were] in Mizpah, the daughters of the king and all the people who were left at Mizpah, [over] whom Nebuzaradan, [the] captain of [the] guard, had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. And Ishmael took them captive and set out to cross over to the {Ammonites}.

When Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies who [were] with him, heard all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done,

So all the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and returned and went to Johanan the son of Kareah.

Then Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies who [were] with him took from Mizpah all the rest of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, after he had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, strong men, {soldiers}, and women, and little children, and eunuchs whom he brought back from Gibeon.

because of the Chaldeans. For they were afraid {of them}, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed [in an official position] over the land.

{And then}, when Jeremiah had finished speaking to all the people all the words of Yahweh their God, for which Yahweh their God had sent him to them with all these words,

But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the armies took all the remnant of Judah who had returned from all the nations [to] which they had been scattered to dwell as aliens in the land of Judah--

the men, and the women, and the little children, and the daughters of the king, and {everyone} whom Nebuzaradan [the] captain of [the] {guard} had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah--

{because of} their wickedness that they committed to provoke me to anger by going to make smoke offerings, serving other gods whom they had not known, [neither] they, you, or your ancestors.

But certainly we will do {everything} that went out from our mouths, to make smoke offerings to the queen of heaven and to pour out to her libations just as we did, we, and our ancestors, our kings, and our officials, in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, [for] then {we had enough to eat}, and we were well-off, and we did not see disaster.

And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh like all that Jehoiakim had done.

The two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze oxen that [were] under the kettle stands which King Solomon had made for the {temple} of Yahweh--there was not a weight for the bronze of all these vessels!

Your prophets had a vision for you, false and worthless; they have not exposed your sin, to restore your fortune; they have seen oracles for you, false and misleading.

and {each had four faces}, and {each of them had four wings}.

So [were] their faces; their wings [were] spread out {upward}; each [had] two touching one another and two covering their bodies.

And I saw the living creatures, and look! A wheel was on the earth beside {each of the living creatures that had four faces}.

And under the expanse their wings [were stretched out] straight {one toward the other}; each had two [wings] covering them, and each had two [wings] covering their bodies.

[and] not to many nations {of obscure speech} and {a difficult language} {whose words} you do not understand, [for] if I had sent you to them they would have listened to you.

And seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel, and Jaazaniah, the son of Shaphan, [was] standing in the midst of them, [and] [they were] standing {before them}. Each [one] [had] his censer in his hand, and the fragrance of the cloud of the incense [was] going up.

And {each one had four faces}; the face of the one [was] the face of a cherub, and the face of the second [was the] face of a human, and the face of the third [was the] face of a lion, and the fourth [was the] face of an eagle.

{Each one had four faces}, and [there were] four wings for each, and [the] likeness of {human hands} [was] under their wings.

And [the] Spirit lifted me up, and it brought me to Chaldea, to the exiles, in the vision by the spirit of God; and the vision that I had seen {left me}.

And I spoke to the exiles all of the words of Yahweh that he had shown me.

Grow up; I will make you like a plant of the field." And you grew up, and you became tall and {reached full womanhood}. [Your] breasts were formed, and your hair had grown, but you [were] naked and bare.

" 'And I passed by you, and I saw you, and look, {your time of lovemaking had come}, and [so] I spread out my hem over you, and I covered your nakedness, and I swore to you, and I entered into a covenant with you,' {declares} the Lord Yahweh, 'and {you became mine}.

And you took from your clothes and you made for yourself colorful shrines, and you prostituted on them; {this had not happened before}, and it {will not continue to happen}.

And you took {your beautiful jewelry} [made] from my gold and from my silver that I had given to you, and you made for yourself {male images}, and you prostituted with them.

'And you took your sons and your daughters whom you had borne for me, and you sacrificed them to them to be eaten, {as if your whorings were not enough}.

On that day {I swore} to them to bring them out from the land of Egypt to [the] land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey--it [is the most] beautiful of all of the lands.

And also {I myself swore} to them in the desert not to bring them into the land that I had given [to them], flowing with milk and honey--it [is the most] beautiful of all of the lands--

But I withheld my hand, and I acted for the sake of my name not to be profaned before the eyes of the nations [before] whom I [had] brought them out before their eyes.

And I saw that she was defiled; {they had both taken the same path}!

For they committed adultery, and blood [is] on their hands, and they committed adultery with their idols, and even their children that they had borne for me--they sacrificed them as food!

Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "On the day of its going down [to] Sheol, I caused mourning; I covered over it [with] the deep, and I withheld its rivers, and many waters were restrained, and I brought gloom over it; Lebanon and all of the trees of the field, they [had] fainted because of it.

They also went down with it to Sheol to {those who died by the sword}, and its army [who] [had] lived in its shadow in the midst of nations.

And I prophesied {just as} I had been commanded, and [there] was a sound at my prophesying, and look! A rattling, and they came together--[the] bones! Bone to its bone!

And [as for] the gate that [had] its face {toward the north} of the outer courtyard, he measured its length and its width.

And its alcoves [were] {three on each side}, and its pilasters and its porticos {had the same measurement} [as] the first gate: its length [was] fifty cubits, and [its] width [was] twenty-five {cubits}.

And its windows and its porticos and its palm tree images [were] like the measurement of the gate that [was] {facing toward the east}; and {it had} seven steps that go up it, and [there were] porticos {before them}.

And [then] he took me {toward the south}, and look, a gate {toward the south}, and he measured its pilasters and its porticos; [they had] measurements [just] {like the others}.

And seven steps [were] going up [to] it and its porticos {before them}. And {it had palm tree images} {all along} its pilasters.

And he brought me to [the] inner courtyard through the gate of the south, and he measured the south gate, [and it had] measurements like {the others}.

And its alcoves and its pilasters and its porticos [were] [just] like these measurements. And [it had] windows for it and for its porticos {all the way around}, fifty cubits along [its length], and twenty-five cubits [wide].

And its pilasters {faced the outer courtyard}, and {it had palm tree images on its pilasters} {on each side}; and eight steps [served as] its stairs.

The length of the portico [was] twenty cubits and its width eleven cubits, and with ten steps they went up to it, and the {pilasters had pillars}, {one on each side}.

and [it was] made of cherubim and palm tree images; a palm tree image between cherub and cherub, and {the cherub had two faces}.

For they [were] three stories and {they had no pillars} like the pillars of the courtyards; therefore they were smaller than the lower [stories] and than the middle [stories] from the ground [up].

Then Daniel asked the guard whom the commander of the court officials [had] appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,

{And as for these four young men}, God gave to them knowledge and insight into all literature and wisdom, and Daniel had insight into all visions and dreams.

And at the end of the time the king had set to bring them, the commander of the court officials brought them in {before} Nebuchadnezzar.

And the king said to them, "{I have had a dream} and my spirit is anxious to know the dream."

Then Daniel responded prudently and discretely to Arioch, the commander of the imperial guard of the king, who had gone out to execute the wise men of Babylon.

{Therefore} Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and thus he said to him: "You must not destroy the wise men of Babylon; take me in before the king and I will give the explanation to the king."

Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent [directions] to assemble the satraps, the prefects, and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates and all of the officials of the provinces to come to the dedication of the statue that Nebuchadnezzar the king [had] set up.

Then the satraps, the prefects, the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the officials of the province [were] assembled for the dedication of the statue that Nebuchadnezzar the king [had] set up, and [were] standing {before} the statue that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

{Therefore}, {at that time}, {as soon as} all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, the flute, [the] lyre, [the] trigon, [the] harp and all kinds of music, all the peoples, {the nations and people of all languages} [were] falling down [and] were worshiping the statue of gold that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.

And the satraps, the prefects, the governors and the advisors of the king [were] assembling, [and] they saw these men, that the fire had no power over their bodies, and the hair of their heads was not singed, and their garments were not harmed, and the smell of fire did not come from them.

{When he tasted the wine}, Belshazzar commanded [that they] bring [the] vessels of gold and silver that Nebuchadnezzar his {predecessor} had taken from the temple that [was] in Jerusalem, so that the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines may drink from them.

Now {when} Daniel realized that the document was signed, he went to his house ({now he had windows in his upper room that were open} toward Jerusalem), and three times {daily} he knelt on his knees and prayed and [gave] praise before his God, {just as} he had been doing {previously}.

Then the king was exceedingly glad over it and commanded [that] Daniel be lifted up from the pit; and [there] was not any wound found on him, because he had trusted in his God.

The king then commanded, and these men were brought {who had accused Daniel}, and they threw them and their children and their wives into {the lion pit}, and they had not reached the floor of the pit {before} the lions had overpowered them and they had crushed all of their bones.

The first [was] like lion and {had} [the] wings of an eagle. I was watching until its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the earth and it was raised on [its] feet like a human, and a human heart was given to it.

After this I was watching and look, another [beast] like a leopard; {it had four wings} of a bird on its back, and {the beast had} four heads, and dominion was given to it.

After this in the visions of the night I was looking and there was a fourth beast, terrifying and frightful and exceedingly strong, and {it had} {great iron teeth}, [and it was] devouring and crushing, and it stamped the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all [the other] beasts {that preceded it} {and it had ten horns}.

and concerning the horns that [were] on its head, and [concerning] [the] other [horn] that came up and {before which three horns fell}, and this horn {had eyes} and mouth speaking {boastfully}, and its appearance [was] larger than its companions.

And I lifted up my eyes and I saw, and look! A ram standing {before} the stream, and {it had} two horns, and the horns [were] long, but the one [was] longer than the second, and the longer [one] came up {after the other one}.

And I was considering [this], and look, a he-goat coming from the west across the face of the whole earth, and [it] was not touching the ground; and the he-goat [had] {a conspicuous horn} between its eyes.

Then it came toward the ram {that had the two horns} that I saw standing {before} the stream, and it ran at it with the rage of its power.

And on account of transgression, [the] host was given over [to the horn] in addition to the regular burnt offering. And it cast down truth to the ground, and it {acted}, and it had success.

"The ram that you saw {who had two horns} [represents] the kings of Media and Persia.

And I [was] still speaking in prayer, and the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision {previously}, {in my weariness touched me} at [the] time of [the] evening offering.

I had not eaten [any] choice food, and meat and wine did not enter my mouth, and {I did not use any ointment} {until the end of three whole weeks}.

And when she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son.

For just as you have drunk on {my holy mountain}, all the nations will drink continually. They will drink and they will slurp, and they will be as [if] they had never been.

Then the men {were greatly afraid}, and they said to him, "What [is] this you have done?" because they knew that he [was] fleeing {from the presence of} Yahweh (because he had told them).

And he had a proclamation made, and said, "In Nineveh, by a decree of the king and his nobles: "No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything! They must not eat, and they must not drink water!

And God saw their deeds--that they turned from their evil ways--and God changed his mind about the evil that he had said [he would] bring upon them, and he did not do [it].

Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all the remnant of the people gave heed to the voice of Yahweh their God and to the words of Haggai the prophet, as Yahweh their God had sent him, {and the people feared Yahweh}.

{I had a vision in the night}, and look, a man riding on a red horse. And he [was] standing between the myrtle shrubs that [were] in the ravine, and behind him [were] red, reddish-brown, and white horses.

And I {looked up} and saw, and look!--two women coming forward, and [the] wind [was] in their wings, and they had wings like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between the earth and the sky.

{They made their hearts adamant} in order not to hear the law and the words that Yahweh of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets; [therefore] great wrath came from Yahweh of hosts.

'And I scattered them with a wind among all the nations that they had not known; the land was made desolate behind them-- no one crossing through [it] or returning--and they made the desirable land a desolation.'"

And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and the house of Joseph I will save. And I will bring them back, because I have compassion on them, and they will be as if I had not rejected them, for I [am] Yahweh their God, and I will answer them.

And I took my staff Kindness and broke it, to break my covenant that I {had made} with all the peoples.

Now the birth of Jesus Christ occurred in this way. His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, [but] before they came together, she was found {to be pregnant} by the Holy Spirit.

[After] they listened to the king, they went out, and behold, the star which they had seen at its rising led them until it came [and] stood above [the place] where the child was.

Now [after] they had gone away, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph, saying, "Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to seek the child to destroy him."

Then Herod, [when he] saw that he had been deceived by the wise men, became very angry, and he sent [soldiers] [and] executed all the children in Bethlehem and in all the region [around] it from [the age of] two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined precisely from the wise men.

Now [after] Herod had died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt,

Now John himself had his clothing made from camel's hair and a belt made of leather around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

and [after he] had fasted forty days and forty nights, then he was hungry.

Now [when he] heard that John {had been arrested}, he withdrew into Galilee.

because he was teaching them like one who had authority, and not like their scribes.

But [when] the crowds saw [this], they were afraid and glorified God who had given such authority to men.

And behold, a woman who had been suffering with a hemorrhage twelve years approached from behind [and] touched the edge of his cloak,

But when the crowd had been sent out, he entered [and] took her hand, and the girl got up.