Paul Defends His Ministry

2 Corinthians 10 I, Paul, make a personal appeal to you--I who am said to be meek and mild when I am with you, but harsh with you when I am away. By the gentleness and kindness of Christ ²I beg you not to force me to be harsh when I come; for I am sure I can deal harshly with those who say that we act from worldly motives. ³It is true that we live in the world, but we do not fight from worldly motives. ⁴The weapons we use in our fight are not the world's weapons but God's powerful weapons, which we use to destroy strongholds. We destroy false arguments; ⁵we pull down every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God; we take every thought captive and make it obey Christ. ⁶And after you have proved your complete loyalty, we will be ready to punish any act of disloyalty.
⁷You are looking at the outward appearance of things. Are there some there who reckon themselves to belong to Christ? Well, let them think again about themselves, because we belong to Christ just as much as they do. ⁸For I am not ashamed, even if I have boasted somewhat too much about the authority that the Lord has given us--authority to build you up, not to tear you down. ⁹I do not want it to appear that I am trying to frighten you with my letters. ¹⁰Someone will say, "Paul's letters are severe and strong, but when he is with us in person, he is weak, and his words are nothing!" ¹¹Such a person must understand that there is no difference between what we write in our letters when we are away and what we will do when we are there with you.
¹²Of course we would not dare classify ourselves or compare ourselves with those who rate themselves so highly. How stupid they are! They make up their own standards to measure themselves by, and they judge themselves by their own standards! ¹³As for us, however, our boasting will not go beyond certain limits; it will stay within the limits of the work which God has set for us, and this includes our work among you. ¹⁴And since you are within those limits, we were not going beyond them when we came to you, bringing the Good News about Christ. ¹⁵So we do not boast about the work that others have done beyond the limits God set for us. Instead, we hope that your faith may grow and that we may be able to do a much greater work among you, always within the limits that God has set. ¹⁶Then we can preach the Good News in other countries beyond you and shall not have to boast about work already done in someone else's field.
¹⁷But as the scripture says, "Whoever wants to boast must boast about what the Lord has done." ¹⁸For it is when the Lord thinks well of us that we are really approved, and not when we think well of ourselves.

King Jehoiakim of Judah
(2 Chronicles 36.5 -8)

2 Kings 23 ³⁵King Jehoiakim collected a tax from the people in proportion to their wealth, in order to raise the amount needed to pay the tribute demanded by the king of Egypt.
³⁶Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother was Zebidah, the daughter of Pedaiah from the town of Rumah. ³⁷Following the example of his ancestors, Jehoiakim sinned against the LORD.
2 Kings 24 While Jehoiakim was king, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia invaded Judah, and for three years Jehoiakim was forced to submit to his rule; then he rebelled. ²The LORD sent armed bands of Babylonians, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites against Jehoiakim to destroy Judah, as the LORD had said through his servants the prophets that he would do. ³This happened at the LORD's command, in order to banish the people of Judah from his sight because of all the sins that King Manasseh had committed, ⁴and especially because of all the innocent people he had killed. The LORD could not forgive Manasseh for that.
⁵Everything that Jehoiakim did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah. ⁶Jehoiakim died, and his son Jehoiachin succeeded him as king.
⁷The king of Egypt and his army never marched out of Egypt again, because the king of Babylonia now controlled all the territory that had belonged to Egypt, from the Euphrates River to the northern border of Egypt.

King Jehoiachin of Judah
(2 Chronicles 36.9, 10)

⁸Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for three months. His mother was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan from Jerusalem. ⁹Following the example of his father, Jehoiachin sinned against the LORD.
¹⁰It was during his reign that the Babylonian army, commanded by King Nebuchadnezzar's officers, marched against Jerusalem and besieged it. ¹¹During the siege Nebuchadnezzar himself came to Jerusalem, ¹²and King Jehoiachin, along with his mother, his sons, his officers, and the palace officials, surrendered to the Babylonians. In the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign he took Jehoiachin prisoner ¹³and carried off to Babylon all the treasures in the Temple and the palace. As the LORD had foretold, Nebuchadnezzar broke up all the gold utensils which King Solomon had made for use in the Temple. ¹⁴Nebuchadnezzar carried away as prisoners the people of Jerusalem, all the royal princes, and all the leading men, ten thousand in all. He also deported all the skilled workers, including the blacksmiths, leaving only the poorest of the people behind in Judah.
¹⁵Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin to Babylon as a prisoner, together with Jehoiachin's mother, his wives, his officials, and the leading men of Judah. ¹⁶Nebuchadnezzar deported all the important men to Babylonia, seven thousand in all, and one thousand skilled workers, including the blacksmiths, all of them able-bodied men fit for military duty.
¹⁷Nebuchadnezzar made Jehoiachin's uncle Mattaniah king of Judah and changed his name to Zedekiah.

King Zedekiah of Judah
(2 Chronicles 36.11, 12; Jeremiah 52.1-3a)

¹⁸Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah from the city of Libnah. ¹⁹King Zedekiah sinned against the LORD, just as King Jehoiakim had done. ²⁰The LORD became so angry with the people of Jerusalem and Judah that he banished them from his sight.

The Book of
HABAKKUK

Habakkuk 1 This is the message that the LORD revealed to the prophet Habakkuk.

Habakkuk Complains of Injustice

²O LORD, how long must I call for help before you listen, before you save us from violence? ³Why do you make me see such trouble? How can you stand to look on such wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are all around me, and there is fighting and quarreling everywhere. ⁴The law is weak and useless, and justice is never done. Evil people get the better of the righteous, and so justice is perverted.

The LORD's Reply

⁵Then the LORD said to his people, "Keep watching the nations around you, and you will be astonished at what you see. I am going to do something that you will not believe when you hear about it. ⁶I am bringing the Babylonians to power, those fierce, restless people. They are marching out across the world to conquer other lands. ⁷They spread fear and terror, and in their pride they are a law to themselves.
⁸"Their horses are faster than leopards, fiercer than hungry wolves. Their cavalry troops come riding from distant lands; their horses paw the ground. They come swooping down like eagles attacking their prey.
⁹"Their armies advance in violent conquest, and everyone is terrified as they approach. Their captives are as numerous as grains of sand. ¹⁰They treat kings with contempt and laugh at high officials. No fortress can stop them--they pile up earth against it and capture it. ¹¹Then they sweep on like the wind and are gone, these men whose power is their god."

Habakkuk Complains to the LORD Again

¹²LORD, from the very beginning you are God. You are my God, holy and eternal. LORD, my God and protector, you have chosen the Babylonians and made them strong so that they can punish us. ¹³But how can you stand these treacherous, evil men? Your eyes are too holy to look at evil, and you cannot stand the sight of people doing wrong. So why are you silent while they destroy people who are more righteous than they are?
¹⁴How can you treat people like fish or like a swarm of insects that have no ruler to direct them? ¹⁵The Babylonians catch people with hooks, as though they were fish. They drag them off in nets and shout for joy over their catch! ¹⁶They even worship their nets and offer sacrifices to them, because their nets provide them with the best of everything.
¹⁷Are they going to use their swords forever and keep on destroying nations without mercy?