Bible in a Year.

On day 190, we reflect on the final events before the exile in 2 Kings 24, marking the fall of Judah due to disobedience. 2 Chronicles 35 highlights the celebration of Passover under Josiah, emphasizing worship and spiritual renewal. Proverbs 8:22-36 deepens our understanding of divine wisdom, revealing its eternal role in creation and in the lives of the righteous.

1. In his days Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came up, and Joakim became his servant three years: then again he rebelled against him.

2. And the Lord sent against him the rovers of the Chaldees, and the rovers of Syria, and the rovers of Moab, and the rovers of the children of Ammon: and he sent them against Juda, to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which he had spoken by his servants the prophets.

3. And this came by the word of the Lord against Juda, to remove them from before him for all the sins of Manasses which he did.

4. And for the innocent blood that he shed, filling Jerusalem with innocent blood: and therefore the Lord would not be appeased.

5. But the rest of the acts of Joakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the words of the days of the kings of Juda? And Joakim slept with his fathers:

6. And Joachin his son reigned in his stead.

7. And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his own country: for the king of Babylon had taken all that had belonged to the king of Egypt, from the river of Egypt, unto the river Euphrates.

8. Joachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, a and he reigned three months in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Nohesta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.

9. And he did evil before the Lord, according to all that his father had done.

10. At that time the servants of Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was surrounded with their forts.

11. And Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came to the city with his servants to assault it.

12. And Joachin king of Juda went out to the king of Babylon, he end his mother, and his servants, and his nobles, and his eunuchs: and the king of Babylon received him in the eighth year of his reign.

13. And he brought out from thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house: and he cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, according to the word of the Lord.

14. And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the valiant men of the army, to the number of ten thousand into captivity: and every artificer and smith: and none were left, but the poor sort of the people of the land.

15. And he carried away Joachin into Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his eunuchs: and the judges of the land he carried into captivity from Jerusalem into Babylon.

16. And all the strong men, seven thousand, and the artificers, and the smiths a thousand, all that were valiant men and fit for war: and the king of Babylon led them captives into Babylon.

17. And he appointed Matthanias his uncle in his stead: and called his name Sedecias.

18. Sedecias was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: the name of his mother was Amital, the daughter of Jeremias of Lobna.

19. And he did evil before the Lord, according to all that Joakim had done.

20. For the Lord was angry against Jerusalem and against Juda, till he cast them out from his face : and Sedecias revolted from the king of Babylon.

1. And Josias kept a phase to the Lord in Jerusalem, and it was sacrificed on the fourteenth day of the first month.

2. And he set the priests in their offices, and exhorted them to minister in the house of the Lord.

3. And he spoke to the Levites, by whose instruction all Israel was sanctified to the Lord, saying: Put the ark in the sanctuary of the temple, which Solomon the son of David king of Israel built : for you shall carry it no more: but minister now to the Lord your God, and to his people Israel.

4. And prepare yourselves by your houses, and families according to your courses, as David king of Israel commanded, and Solomon his son hath written.

5. And serve ye in the sanctuary by the families and companies of Levi.

6. And being sanctified kill the phase, and prepare your brethren, that they may do according to the words which the Lord spoke by the hand of Moses.

7. And Josias gave to all the people that were found there in the solemnity of the phase, of lambs and of kids of the flocks, and of other small cattle thirty thousand, and of oxen three thousand, all these were of the king's substance.

8. And his princes willingly offered what they had vowed, both to the people and to the priests and the Levites. Moreover Helcias, and Zacharias, and Jahiel rulers of the house of the Lord, gave to the priests to keep the phase two thousand six hundred small cattle, and three hundred oxen.

9. And Chonenias, and Semeias and Nathanael, his brethren, and Hasabias, and Jehiel, and Jozabad princes of the Levites, gave to the rest of the Levites to celebrate the phase five thousand small cattle, and five hundred oxen.

10. And the ministry was prepared, and the priests stood in their office: the Levites also in their companies, according to the king's commandment.

11. And the phase was immolated: and the priests sprinkled the blood with their hand, and the Levites flayed the holocausts:

12. And they separated them to give them by the houses and families of every one, and to be offered to the Lord, as it is written in the book of Moses, and with the oxen they did in like manner.

13. And they roasted the phase with fire, according to that which is written in the law: but the victims of peace offerings they boiled in caldrons, and kettles, and pots, and they distributed them speedily among all the people.

14. And afterwards they made ready for themselves, and for the priests: for the priests were busied in offering of holocausts and the fat until night: wherefore the Levites prepared for themselves, and for the priests the sons of Aaron last.

15. And the singers the sons of Asaph stood in their order, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Idithun the prophets of the king: and the porters kept guard at every gate, so as not to depart one moment from their service: and therefore their brethren the Levites prepared meats for them.

16. So all the service of the Lord was duly accomplished that day, both in keeping the phase, and offering holocausts upon the altar of the Lord, according to the commandment of king Josias.

17. And the children of Israel that were found there, kept the phase at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days.

18. There was no phase like to this in Israel, from the days of Samuel the prophet: neither did any of all the kings of Israel keep such a phase as Josias kept, with the priests, and the Levites, and all Juda, and Israel that were found, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

19. In the eighteenth year of the reign of Josias was this phase celebrated.

20. After that Josias had repaired the temple, Nechao king of Egypt came up to fight in Charcamis by the Euphrates: and Josias went out to meet him.

21. But he sent messengers to him, saying: What have I to do with thee, O king of Juda? I come not against thee this day, but I fight against another house, to which God hath commanded me to go in haste : forbear to do against God, who is with me, lest he kill thee.

22. Josias would not return, but prepared to fight against him, and hearkened not to the words of Nechao from the mouth of God, I but went to fight in the field of Mageddo.

23. And there he was wounded by the archers, and he said to his servants: Carry me out of the battle, for I am grievously wounded.

24. And they removed him from the chariot into another, that followed him after the manner of kings, and they carried him away to Jerusalem, and he died, and was buried in the monument of his fathers, and all Juda and Jerusalem mourned for him,

25. Particularly Jeremias: whose lamentations for Josias all the singing men and singing women repeat unto this day, and it became like a law in Israel: Behold it is found written in the Lamentations.

26. Now the rest of the acts of Josias and of his mercies, according to what was commanded by the law of the Lord:

27. And his works first and last, are written in the book of the kings of Juda and Israel.

22. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made any thing from the beginning.

23. I was set up from eternity, and of old before the earth was made.

24. The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived. neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out:

25. The mountains with their huge bulk had not as yet been established: before the hills I was brought forth:

26. He had not yet made the earth, nor the rivers, nor the poles of the world.

27. When he prepared the heavens, I was present: when with a certain law and compass he enclosed the depths:

28. When he established the sky above, and poised the fountains of waters:

29. When he compassed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits: when be balanced the foundations of the earth;

30. I was with him forming all things: and was delighted every day, playing before him at all times;

31. Playing in the world: and my delights were to be with the children of men.

32. Now therefore, ye children, hear me: Blessed are they that keep my ways.

33. Hear instruction and be wise, and refuse it not.

34. Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors.

35. He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord:

36. But he that shall sin against me, shall hurt his own soul. All that hate me love death.