The Transfiguration

9 And Jesus was saying to them, “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”

² Six days later, Jesus *took with Him Peter and ^[a]James and John, and *brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; ³ and His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them. ⁴ Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. ⁵ Peter *said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three ^[b]tabernacles, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁶ For he did not know what to answer; for they became terrified. ⁷ Then a cloud ^[c]formed, overshadowing them, and a voice ^[d]came out of the cloud, “This is My beloved Son, ^[e]listen to Him!” ⁸ All at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone.

⁹ As they were coming down from the mountain, He gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, ^[f]until the Son of Man rose from the dead. ¹⁰ They ^[g]seized upon ^[h]that statement, discussing with one another ^[i]what rising from the dead meant. ¹¹ They asked Him, saying, “Why is it that the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” ¹² And He said to them, “Elijah does first come and restore all things. And yet how is it written of the Son of Man that He will suffer many things and be treated with contempt? ¹³ But I say to you that Elijah has ^[j]indeed come, and they did to him whatever they wished, just as it is written of him.”

All Things Possible

¹⁴ When they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. ¹⁵ Immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were amazed and began running up to greet Him. ¹⁶ And He asked them, “What are you discussing with them?” ¹⁷ And one of the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; ¹⁸ and ^[k]whenever it seizes him, it ^[l]slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and ^[m]stiffens out. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it.” ¹⁹ And He *answered them and *said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!” ²⁰ They brought ^[n]the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. ²¹ And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. ²² It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” ²³ And Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ All things are possible to him who believes.” ²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.” ²⁵ When Jesus saw that a crowd was ^[o]rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You deaf and mute spirit, I ^[p]command you, come out of him and do not enter him ^[q]again.” ²⁶ After crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, “He is dead!” ²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he got up. ²⁸ When He came into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, “Why could we not drive it out?” ²⁹ And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”

Jerusalem Captured

39 ^[a]Now when Jerusalem was captured ^[b]in the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came to Jerusalem and laid siege to it; ² in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the city wall was breached. ³ Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came in and sat down at the Middle Gate: Nergal-sar-ezer, Samgar-nebu, Sar-sekim the ^[c]Rab-saris, Nergal-sar-ezer the ^[d]Rab-mag, and all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon. ⁴ When Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, they fled and went out of the city at night by way of the king’s garden through the gate between the two walls; and he went out toward the ^[e]Arabah. ⁵ But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and they seized him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him. ⁶ Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes at Riblah; the king of Babylon also slew all the nobles of Judah. ⁷ He then blinded Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him in fetters of bronze to bring him to Babylon. ⁸ The Chaldeans also burned with fire the king’s palace and the houses of the people, and they broke down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁹ As for the rest of the people who were left in the city, the ^[f]deserters who had gone over to him and the rest of the people who remained, Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard carried them into exile in Babylon. ¹⁰ But some of the poorest people who had nothing, Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard left behind in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields ^[g]at that time.

Jeremiah Spared

¹¹ Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave orders about Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, saying, ¹² “Take him and ^[h]look after him, and do nothing harmful to him, but rather deal with him just as he tells you.” ¹³ So Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard sent word, along with Nebushazban the ^[i]Rab-saris, and Nergal-sar-ezer the ^[j]Rab-mag, and all the leading officers of the king of Babylon; ¹⁴ they even sent and took Jeremiah out of the court of the guardhouse and entrusted him to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him home. So he stayed among the people.

¹⁵ Now the word of the Lord had come to Jeremiah while he was confined in the court of the guardhouse, saying, ¹⁶ “Go and speak to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold, I am about to bring My words on this city for disaster and not for ^[k]prosperity; and they will take place before you on that day. ¹⁷ But I will deliver you on that day,” declares the Lord, “and you will not be given into the hand of the men whom you dread. ¹⁸ For I will certainly rescue you, and you will not fall by the sword; but you will have your own life as booty, because you have trusted in Me,” declares the Lord.’”