Day 257: Choose to Love (2026)

Fr. Mike Schmitz (0:04)

Hi, my name is Fr. Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to The Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension, using The Great Adventure Bible Timeline. We'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 257 We're reading from two chapters today, the conclusion of the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 52 We're also reading the entire book of the prophet Obadiah. It's only one chapter. In fact, it's the only one-chapter-long book in the Old Testament, and we're reading it today. So maybe kind of a shorter day. Who knows? We're also reading Proverbs 18 verses 13 through 16 As always, the Bible translation that I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using The Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com/bible in a Year. You can also subscribe in your podcast app and receive daily episodes and daily updates and all the daily daily things. Today is Day 257, we're reading The Conclusion of Jeremiah, Chapter 52, Obadiah and Proverbs 18, Verses 13 through 16

The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, Chapter 52, Zedekiah is Captured.

Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king, and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamutah, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libna, and he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. Surely, because of the anger of the Lord, things came to such a pass in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came with all his army against Jerusalem, and they laid siege to it and built siege works against it round about. So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled and went out from the city by night by the way of a gate between the two walls by the king's garden, while the Chaldeans were round about the city. And they went in the direction of the Ereba. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Reblah in the land of Hamoth, and he passed sentence upon him. The king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and also slew all the princes of Judah at Reblah. He put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains, and the king of Babylon took him to Babylon and put him in prison till the day of his death.

Jerusalem is plundered and burned.

In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar the captain of the bodyguard who served the king of Babylon entered Jerusalem. And he burned the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, every great house he burned down. And all the army of the Chaldeans, who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls round about Jerusalem. And Nebuchadnezzar the captain of the guard carried away, captive, some of the poorest of the people, and the rest of the people who were left in the city, and the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon together with the rest of the artisans. But Nebuchadnezzar the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and plowmen.

And the pillars of bronze that were in the house of the Lord, and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried all the bronze to Babylon. And they took away the pots and the shovels and the snuffers and the basins, and the dishes for incense and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service. Also the small bowls and the fire pans, and the basins and the pots and the lampstands, and the dishes for incense and the bowls for libation. What was of gold, the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver as silver. As for the two pillars, the one sea, the twelve bronze bowls which were under the sea, and the stands which Solomon the king had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these things was beyond weight. As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, its circumference was twelve cubits, and its thickness was four fingers, and it was hollow. Upon it was a capital of bronze, the height of the one capital was five cubits. A network and pomegranates, all of bronze, were upon the capital roundabout, and the second pillar had the like with pomegranates. There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides, all the pomegranates were a hundred upon the network roundabout, and the captain of the guard took Saraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold, and from the city he took an officer who had been in command of the men of war, and seven men of the king's council who were found in the city, and the secretary of the commander of the army who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city. And Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried captive out of its land.