Now the cistern where Ishmael threw all the dead bodies of those he had killed was a large one that King Asa had constructed as part of his defenses against King Baasha of Israel. Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with dead bodies.

Then Ishmael took captive all the people who were still left alive in Mizpah. This included the royal princesses and all the rest of the people in Mizpah that Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, had put under the authority of Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took all these people captive and set out to cross over to the Ammonites.

Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him heard about all the atrocities that Ishmael son of Nethaniah had committed.

When all the people that Ishmael had taken captive saw Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers with him, they were glad.

All those people that Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned and went over to Johanan son of Kareah.

Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with him led off all the people who had been left alive at Mizpah. They had rescued them from Ishmael son of Nethaniah after he killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam. They led off the men, women, children, soldiers, and court officials whom they had brought away from Gibeon.

They were afraid of what the Babylonians might do because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed to govern the country.

Jeremiah finished telling all the people all these things the Lord their God had sent him to tell them.

Instead Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers led off all the Judean remnant who had come back to live in the land of Judah from all the nations where they had been scattered.

They also led off all the men, women, children, and royal princesses that Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, had left with Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan. This included the prophet Jeremiah and Baruch son of Neriah.

Instead we will do everything we vowed we would do. We will sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the goddess called the Queen of Heaven just as we and our ancestors, our kings, and our leaders previously did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and had no troubles.

Babylonia had been a gold cup in the Lord's hand. She had made the whole world drunk. The nations had drunk from the wine of her wrath. So they have all gone mad.

He did what displeased the Lord just as Jehoiakim had done.

By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city was so severe the residents had no food.

They broke through the city walls, and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king's garden. (The Babylonians had the city surrounded.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley.

The king of Babylon had Zedekiah's sons put to death while Zedekiah was forced to watch. He also had all the nobles of Judah put to death there at Riblah.

He had Zedekiah's eyes put out and had him bound in chains. Then the king of Babylon had him led off to Babylon and he was imprisoned there until the day he died.

Nebuzaradan, the captain of the royal guard, took into exile some of the poor, the rest of the people who remained in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the rest of the craftsmen.

The bronze top of one pillar was about seven and one-half feet high and had bronze latticework and pomegranate-shaped ornaments all around it. The second pillar with its pomegranate-shaped ornaments was like it.

(Yod) An enemy grabbed all her valuables. Indeed she watched in horror as Gentiles invaded her holy temple -- those whom you had commanded: "They must not enter your assembly place."

(Qof) I called for my lovers, but they had deceived me. My priests and my elders perished in the city. Truly they had searched for food to keep themselves alive.

(Tsade) Our enemies hunted us down at every step so that we could not walk about in our streets. Our end drew near, our days were numbered, for our end had come!

In the fire were what looked like four living beings. In their appearance they had human form,

but each had four faces and four wings.

They had human hands under their wings on their four sides. As for the faces and wings of the four of them,

Their faces had this appearance: Each of the four had the face of a man, with the face of a lion on the right, the face of an ox on the left and also the face of an eagle.

Their wings were spread out above them; each had two wings touching the wings of one of the other beings on either side and two wings covering their bodies.

Under the platform their wings were stretched out, each toward the other. Each of the beings also had two wings covering its body.

He unrolled it before me, and it had writing on the front and back; written on it were laments, mourning, and woe.

not to many peoples of unintelligible speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand -- surely if I had sent you to them, they would listen to you!

So I got up and went out to the valley, and the glory of the Lord was standing there, just like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River, and I threw myself face down.

Then I perceived that the glory of the God of Israel was there, as in the vision I had seen earlier in the valley.

Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub where it had rested to the threshold of the temple. He called to the man dressed in linen who had the writing kit at his side.

Each of the cherubim had four faces: The first was the face of a cherub, the second that of a man, the third that of a lion, and the fourth that of an eagle.

Each had four faces; each had four wings and the form of human hands under the wings.

As for the form of their faces, they were the faces whose appearance I had seen at the Kebar River. Each one moved straight ahead.

Then a wind lifted me up and carried me to the exiles in Babylonia, in the vision given to me by the Spirit of God. Then the vision I had seen went up from me.

So I told the exiles everything the Lord had shown me.

I made you plentiful like sprouts in a field; you grew tall and came of age so that you could wear jewelry. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, but you were still naked and bare.

"'Then I passed by you and watched you, noticing that you had reached the age for love. I spread my cloak over you and covered your nakedness. I swore a solemn oath to you and entered into a marriage covenant with you, declares the sovereign Lord, and you became mine.

You also took your beautiful jewelry, made of my gold and my silver I had given to you, and made for yourself male images and engaged in prostitution with them.

"'See here -- this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had majesty, abundance of food, and enjoyed carefree ease, but they did not help the poor and needy.

Because he considered and turned from all the sins he had done, he will surely live; he will not die.

On that day I swore to bring them out of the land of Egypt to a land which I had picked out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands.

I acted for the sake of my reputation, so that I would not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

I also swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them to the land I had given them -- a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands.

Yet I had pity on them and did not destroy them, so I did not make an end of them in the wilderness.

But I refrained from doing so, and acted instead for the sake of my reputation, so that I would not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

She did not abandon the prostitution she had practiced in Egypt; for in her youth men had sex with her, fondled her virgin breasts, and ravished her.

"Her sister Oholibah watched this, but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution were more numerous than those of her sister.

When she lustfully exposed her nakedness, I was disgusted with her, just as I had been disgusted with her sister.

They had sex with her as one does with a prostitute. In this way they had sex with Oholah and Oholibah, promiscuous women.

Among the dead they have made a bed for her, along with all her hordes around her grave. All of them are uncircumcised, killed by the sword, for their terror had spread in the land of the living. They bear their shame along with those who descend to the pit; they are placed among the dead.

He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, so he is responsible for himself. If he had heeded the warning, he would have saved his life.

Now the hand of the Lord had been on me the evening before the refugee reached me, but the Lord opened my mouth by the time the refugee arrived in the morning; he opened my mouth and I was no longer unable to speak.

They were scattered because they had no shepherd, and they became food for every wild beast.

After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come to a land restored from the ravages of war, with many peoples gathered on the mountains of Israel that had long been in ruins. Its people were brought out from the peoples, and all of them will be living securely.

There were three alcoves on each side of the east gate; the three had the same measurement, and the jambs on either side had the same measurement.

Its alcoves, three on each side, and its jambs and porches had the same measurement as the first gate; 87? feet long and 43? feet wide.

Its windows, its porches, and its decorative palm trees had the same measurement as the gate which faced east. Seven steps led up to it, and its porch was in front of them.

Then he led me toward the south. I saw a gate on the south. He measured its jambs and its porches; they had the same dimensions as the others.

There were seven steps going up to it; its porches were in front of them. It had decorative palm trees on its jambs, one on either side.

The inner court had a gate toward the south; he measured it from gate to gate toward the south as 175 feet.

Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate. He measured the south gate; it had the same dimensions as the others.

Its alcoves, its jambs, and its porches had the same dimensions as the others, and there were windows all around it and its porches; its length was 87? feet and its width 43? feet.

Its porches faced the outer court, and decorative palm trees were on its jambs, and its stairway had eight steps.

Then he brought me to the inner court on the east side. He measured the gate; it had the same dimensions as the others.

Its alcoves, its jambs, and its porches had the same dimensions as the others, and there were windows all around it and its porches; its length was 87? feet and its width 43? feet.

Its porches faced the outer court, it had decorative palm trees on its jambs, and its stairway had eight steps.

Then he brought me to the north gate, and he measured it; it had the same dimensions as the others --

its alcoves, its jambs, and its porches. It had windows all around it; its length was 87? feet and its width 43? feet.

Its jambs faced the outer court, and it had decorative palm trees on its jambs, on either side, and its stairway had eight steps.

I saw that the temple had a raised platform all around; the foundations of the side chambers were a full measuring stick of 10? feet high.

It was made with cherubim and decorative palm trees, with a palm tree between each cherub. Each cherub had two faces:

The outer sanctuary and the inner sanctuary each had a double door.

Each of the doors had two leaves, two swinging leaves; two leaves for one door and two leaves for the other.

For they were in three stories and had no pillars like the pillars of the courts; therefore the upper chambers were set back from the ground more than the lower and upper ones.

Now when he had finished measuring the interior of the temple, he led me out by the gate which faces east and measured all around.

He measured it on all four sides. It had a wall around it, 875 feet long and 875 feet wide, to separate the holy and common places.

Again he measured 1,750 feet and it was a river I could not cross, for the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be crossed.

When I had returned, I noticed a vast number of trees on the banks of the river, on both sides.

Daniel then spoke to the warden whom the overseer of the court officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:

At the end of the ten days their appearance was better and their bodies were healthier than all the young men who had been eating the royal delicacies.

Now as for these four young men, God endowed them with knowledge and skill in all sorts of literature and wisdom -- and Daniel had insight into all kinds of visions and dreams.

In the second year of his reign Nebuchadnezzar had many dreams. His mind was disturbed and he suffered from insomnia.

The king told them, "I have had a dream, and I am anxious to understand the dream."

Then Daniel spoke with prudent counsel to Arioch, who was in charge of the king's executioners and who had gone out to execute the wise men of Babylon.

Then Daniel went in to see Arioch (whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon). He came and said to him, "Don't destroy the wise men of Babylon! Escort me to the king, and I will disclose the interpretation to him!"

However, there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the times to come. The dream and the visions you had while lying on your bed are as follows.

King Nebuchadnezzar had a golden statue made. It was ninety feet tall and nine feet wide. He erected it on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.

Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent out a summons to assemble the satraps, prefects, governors, counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the other authorities of the province to attend the dedication of the statue that he had erected.

So the satraps, prefects, governors, counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the other provincial authorities assembled for the dedication of the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had erected. They were standing in front of the statue that Nebuchadnezzar had erected.

Therefore when they all heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations, and language groups began bowing down and paying homage to the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had erected.

Now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, trigon, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must bow down and pay homage to the statue that I had made. If you don't pay homage to it, you will immediately be thrown into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire. Now, who is that god who can rescue you from my power?"

Once the satraps, prefects, governors, and ministers of the king had gathered around, they saw that those men were physically unharmed by the fire. The hair of their heads was not singed, nor were their trousers damaged. Not even the smell of fire was to be found on them!

While under the influence of the wine, Belshazzar issued an order to bring in the gold and silver vessels -- the ones that Nebuchadnezzar his father had confiscated from the temple in Jerusalem -- so that the king and his nobles, together with his wives and his concubines, could drink from them.

So they brought the gold and silver vessels that had been confiscated from the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, together with his wives and concubines, drank from them.

Now this Daniel was distinguishing himself above the other supervisors and the satraps, for he had an extraordinary spirit. In fact, the king intended to appoint him over the entire kingdom.

When Daniel realized that a written decree had been issued, he entered his home, where the windows in his upper room opened toward Jerusalem. Three times daily he was kneeling and offering prayers and thanks to his God just as he had been accustomed to do previously.

Then those officials who had gone to the king came by collusion and found Daniel praying and asking for help before his God.