Now, O Lord God of Israel, keep the promise you made to your servant, my father David, when you said, ‘You will never fail to have a successor ruling before me on the throne of Israel, ¹  provided that your descendants watch their step and obey my law as you have done.’ ² 

As his father David had decreed, Solomon ¹  appointed the divisions of the priests to do their assigned tasks, the Levitical orders to lead worship and help the priests with their daily tasks, ²  and the divisions of the gatekeepers to serve at their assigned gates. ³  This was what David the man of God had ordered. ⁴ 

May the Lord your God be praised because he favored ¹  you by placing you on his throne as the one ruling on his behalf! ²  Because of your God’s love for Israel and his lasting commitment to them, ³  he made you king over them so you could make just and right decisions.” ⁴ 

Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. No one regretted his death; ¹  he was buried in the City of David, ²  but not in the royal tombs.

“Now if the king is so inclined, ¹  let a search be conducted in the royal archives ²  there in Babylon in order to determine whether King Cyrus did in fact issue orders for this temple of God to be rebuilt in Jerusalem. Then let the king send us a decision concerning this matter.”

If the king is so inclined, ¹  let a royal edict go forth from him, and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media that cannot be repealed, ²  that Vashti ³  may not come into the presence of King Ahasuerus, and let the king convey her royalty to another ⁴  who is more deserving than she. ⁵ 

His dominion will be vast ¹  and he will bring immeasurable prosperity. ²  He will rule on David’s throne and over David’s kingdom, ³  establishing it ⁴  and strengthening it by promoting justice and fairness, ⁵  from this time forward and forevermore. The Lord’s intense devotion to his people ⁶  will accomplish this.

Nations will take them and bring them back to their own place. Then the family of Jacob will make foreigners their servants as they settle in the Lord’s land. ¹  They will make their captors captives and rule over the ones who oppressed them.

This is what the Lord, the protector ¹  of Israel, their Holy One, ²  says to the one who is despised ³  and rejected ⁴  by nations, ⁵  a servant of rulers: “Kings will see and rise in respect, ⁶  princes will bow down, because of the faithful Lord, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen you.”

So the Lord God of Israel has this to say about the leaders who are ruling over his people: “You have caused my people ¹  to be dispersed and driven into exile. You have not taken care of them. So I will punish you for the evil that you have done. ²  I, the Lord, affirm it! ³ 

“For the last twenty-three years, from the thirteenth year that Josiah son of Amon was ruling in Judah ¹  until now, the Lord has been speaking to me. I told you over and over again ²  what he said. ³  But you would not listen.

All the people living in Jerusalem ¹  and all the people who came into Jerusalem from the towns of Judah came to observe a fast before the Lord. The fast took place in the ninth month of the fifth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah. ² 

Then Nergal-Sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-Sarsekim, who was a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer, who was a high official, ¹  and all the other officers of the king of Babylon came and set up quarters ²  in the Middle Gate. ³ 

The prophet Jeremiah spoke to Baruch son of Neriah while he was writing down in a scroll the words that Jeremiah spoke to him. ¹  This happened in the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah. ² 

He spoke about Egypt and the army of Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt which was encamped along the Euphrates River at Carchemish. Now this was the army that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon defeated in the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling ¹  over Judah. ² 

“Son of man, say to the prince ¹  of Tyre, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: “‘Your heart is proud ²  and you said, “I am a god; ³  I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas” – yet you are a man and not a god, though you think you are godlike. ⁴ 

You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost, but with force and harshness ¹  you have ruled over them.

To him was given ruling authority, honor, and sovereignty. All peoples, nations, and language groups were serving ¹  him. His authority is eternal and will not pass away. ²  His kingdom will not be destroyed. ³ 

Then ¹  I heard every creature – in heaven, on earth, under the earth, in the sea, and all that is in them – singing: ²  “To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be praise, honor, glory, and ruling power ³  forever and ever!”

Then ¹  I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, “The salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the ruling authority ²  of his Christ, ³  have now come, because the accuser of our brothers and sisters, ⁴  the one who accuses them day and night ⁵  before our God, has been thrown down.