Day 250: Final Wave of Exile (2026)

0:00Before we get started, I just wanted to offer a quick thank you to all those who have supported the Catechism and Ear or the Bible in your podcasts We hear stories every day about how those shows have transformed people's lives and because of your prayers of financial gifts You are a significant part of that. You might ask a question though. Question is what does ascension do with these financial gifts? Great question. The answer is we make authentically Catholic podcasts and videos in other digital content to help people know the Catholic faith and grow closer to God and we do it all for free if you found this podcast be helpful in Your life and we're like to help us continue making free Catholic content we can post online Please consider making a financial contribution and ongoing financial contribution by going to ascensionpress.com slash support. That's ascensionpress.com slash support. Thank you and God bless Hi, my name is Father 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 will read all the way from Genesis

1:05to Revelation discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 250 It's awesome. You guys congratulations. You have 115 days left. I think that's right Anyways, we are trucking through Jeremiah and and Judith It's we're almost at the end of Judith where Jeremiah 39 and 40 the fall of Jerusalem and man guy it's ups and downs, you know highs and lows Incrackled a lot of lows actually Jeremiah 39 and 40 as well as Judith 10 and 11 Proverbs chapter 17 verses 9 through 12 As always the Bible translation 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 slash Bible in a year and you can subscribe to the podcast by clicking on subscribe and receive daily updates and daily episodes and all the daily daily things As I said, it's day 250 we're reading Jeremiah 39 and 40 Judith 10 and 11 and Proverbs 17 verses 9 through 12

2:06The book of the prophet Jeremiah chapter 39 the fall of Jerusalem In the ninth year of Zedakaya king of Judah in the 10th month Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it in the 11th year of Zedakaya in the Fourth month on the ninth day of the month a breach was made in the city When Jerusalem was taken all the princes of the king of Babylon came and sat in the middle gate Nergal Sharazar Samghar Nibo Sarsakim the Rabbsaries Nergal Sharazar the Rabb Mag with all the rest of the officers of the king of Babylon When Zedakaya king of Judah in all the soldiers saw them they fled Going out of the city at night by way of the king's garden through the gate between the two walls and they went toward the Ereba but the army of the Caldians pursued them and overtook Zedakaya in the plains of Jericho and when they had taken him They brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath and he passed sentence upon him The king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedakaya at Riblah before his eyes and the king of Babylon slew all the nobles

3:11of Judah he put out the eyes of Zedakaya and bound him in chains to take him to Babylon The Caldians burned the king's house and the house of the people and broke down the walls of Jerusalem Then Nebuchadnezzar the captain of the guard carried into exile to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city Those who had deserted to him and the people who remained Nebuchadnezzar the captain of the guard left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time Jeremiah is sent to Ebid Melek Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah through Nebuchadnezzar the captain of the guard saying Take him look after him well and do him no harm But deal with him as he tells you So Nebuchadnezzar the captain of the guard Nebuchadnezzar the rabseris near Gala Sharazar the rabmeg in all the chief officers of the king of Babylon sent and took Jeremiah from the court of the guard They entrusted him to get a liar the son of Ahikam son of Shafan that he should take him home

4:12So he dwelt among the people The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the guard Go and say to Ebid Melek the Ethiopian thus says the Lord of hosts the God of Israel Behold I will fulfill my words against this city for evil and not for good and they shall be accomplished before you on that day But I will deliver you on that day says the Lord and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid For I will surely save you and you shall not fall by the sword But you shall have your life as a prize of war because you have put your trust in me says the Lord Chapter 40 Jeremiah with Gedalaya the governor The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after Nebuchadnezzar The captain of the guard had let him go from Rama when he took him bound in chains along with all the captives of Jerusalem and Judah who were being exiled to Babylon The captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him The Lord your God pronounced this evil against this place

5:14The Lord has brought it about and has done as he said Because you sinned against the Lord and did not obey his voice this thing has come upon you now behold I release you today from the chains on your hands If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon come and I will look after you well But if it seems wrong to you to come with me to Babylon do not come See the whole land is before you go wherever you think it good and right to go If you remain then return to Gedalaya the son of a he come son of Shafan whom the king of Babylon appointed governor of the cities of Judah And dwell with him among the people or go wherever you think it right to go So the captain of the guard gave him an allowance of food and a present and let him go Then Jeremiah went to Gedalaya the son of a he come at Mizba and dwelt with him among the people who were left in the land When all the captains of the forces in the open country and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedalaya the son of a he come Governor in the land and had committed to him men women and children those of the poorest of the land who had not been taken into exile to Babylon

6:21They went to Gedalaya at Mizba Ishmael the son of Netana'a Johan'an the son of Kariah Saraya the son of Tanumeth the sons of Iffai the Nakafa'at Jizana'a the son of Akathite they and their men Gedalaya the son of a he come son of Shafan swore to them and their men saying Do not be afraid to serve the Keldeans dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon and it shall be well with you As for me I will dwell at Mizba to stand for you before the Keldeans who will come to us but as for you gather wine and summer fruits and oil and store them in your vessels and dwell in your cities that you have taken Likewise when all the Jews who were in Moab and among the Ammonites and in Edom and in other lands heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedalaya the son of a he come son of Shafan as governor over them Then all the Jews returned from all the places to which they had been driven and came to the land of Judah to Gedalaya at Mizba And they gathered wine and summer fruits in great abundance

7:23Now Johan'an the son of Kariah and all the leaders of the forces in the open country came to Gedalaya at Mizba and said to him Do you know the Baalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nathana'a to take your life But Gedalaya the son of a he come would not believe them Then Johan'an the son of Kariah spoke secretly to Gedalaya at Mizba Let me go and slay Ishmael the son of Nathana'a and no one will know it Why should he take your life so that all the Jews who are gathered about you would be scattered and the remnant of Judah would perish But Gedalaya the son of a he come said to Johan'an the son of Kariah You shall not do this thing for you are speaking falsely of Ishmael The book of Judith chapter 10 Judith prepares to go to Hullafrines When Judith had ceased crying out to the God of Israel and had ended all these words She rose from where she lay prostrate and called her maid and went down into the house where she lived on Sabbaths And on her feast days and she removed the sackcloth which she had been wearing

8:26And took off her widow's garments and bathed her body with water and anointed herself with precious ointment And combed her hair and put on a tiara and arrayed herself in most festive apparel Which she used to wear while her husband Manasa was living And she put sandals on her feet and put on her enclots and bracelets and rings In her earrings and all her ornaments And made herself very beautiful to entice the eyes of all men who might see her And she gave her maid a bottle of wine and a flask of oil And filled the bag with parched grain and a cake of dried fruit and fine bread And she wrapped all her vessels and gave them to her to Kari Then they went out to the city gate of Bethelaya and found Uzziah standing there with the elders of the city Shabri's and Sharmis When they saw her and noted how her face was altered and her clothing changed They greatly admired her beauty and said to her May the God of our Father's grant you favor and fulfill your plans That the people of Israel may glory and Jerusalem may be exalted And she worshiped God Then she said to them

9:26Ordered the gate of the city to be opened for me And I will go out and accomplish the things about which you spoke with me So they ordered the young men to open the gate for her as she had said When they had done this Judith went out, she and her maid with her And the men of the city watched her until she had gone down the mountain And passed through the valley and they could no longer see her Judith is captured The women went straight on through the valley And in the Syrian patrol met her and took her into custody and asked her To what people do you belong And where are you coming from and where are you going? She replied I am a daughter of the Hebrews but I am fleeing from them For they are about to be handed over to you to be devoured I am on my way to the presence of Halafernis, the commander of your army To give him a true report And I will show him a way by which he can go and capture all the hill country Without losing one of his men captured or slain When the men hurt her words and observed her face She was in their eyes marvellously beautiful They said to her You have saved your life by herring down to the presence of our Lord

10:29Go at once to his tent Some of us will escort you and hand you over to him And when you stand before him do not be afraid in your heart But tell him just what you have said and he will treat you well They chose from their number a hundred men to accompany her and her maid And they brought them to the tent of Halafernis There was great excitement in the whole camp For her arrival was reported from tent to tent And they came and stood around her as she waited outside the tent of Halafernis While they told him about her And they marveled at her beauty And admired the Israelites judging them by her And everyone said to his neighbor Who can despise these people who have women like this among them Surely not a man of them had better be left alive For if we let them go they will be able to ensnare the whole world Judith is brought before Halafernis Then Halafernis' companions and all his servants came out And led her into the tent Halafernis was resting on his bed under a canopy Which was woven with purple and gold and emerald and precious stones

11:30When they told him of her he came forward to the front of the tent With silver lamps carried before him And when Judith came into the presence of Halafernis and his servants They all marveled at the beauty of her face And she prostrated herself and made obeisance to him And his slaves raised her up Chapter 11 Then Halafernis said to her Take courage woman And do not be afraid in your heart For I have never hurt anyone who chose to serve Nebuchadnezzar The king of all the earth And even now if your people who live in the hill country Had not slided me I would never have lifted my spear against them But they have brought all this on themselves Now tell me why you have fled from them And have come over to us since you have come to safety Have courage You will live Tonight and from now on No one will hurt you But all will treat you well as they do the servants of my Lord King Nebuchadnezzar Judith deceives Halafernis Judith replied to him Accept the words of your servant And let your maid servant speak in your presence

12:32And I will tell nothing false to my Lord this night And if you follow out the words of your maid servant God will accomplish something through you And my Lord will not fail to achieve his purposes Nebuchadnezzar the king of the whole earth lives And as his power endures Who had sent you to direct every living soul Not only to men serve him because of you But also the beasts of the field and the cattle And the birds of the air will live by your power Under Nebuchadnezzar and all his house For we have heard of your wisdom and skill And it is reported throughout the whole world That you are the one good man in the whole kingdom Thorily informed and marvelous in military strategy Now as for the things Akir said in your counsel We have heard his words for the men of Bethulaya spared him And he told them all he had said to you Therefore my Lord and master do not disregard what he said But keep it in your mind For it is true our nation cannot be punished Nor can the sword prevail against them Unless they sin against their God

13:34And now in order that my Lord may not be defeated And his purpose frustrated death will fall upon them For a sin has overtaken them by which they are about To provoke their God to anger when they do what is wrong Since their food supply is exhausted And their water has almost given out They have planned to kill their cattle And have determined to use all that God by his laws Has forbidden them to eat They have decided to consume the first fruits of the grain And the tithes of wine and oil Which they had consecrated And set aside for the priests who minister in the presence Of our God at Jerusalem Although it is not lawful for any of the people So much as to touch these things with their hands They have sent men to Jerusalem Because even the people living there have been doing this To bring back to them permission from the Senate When the word reaches them and they proceed to do this On that day they will be handed over to you to be destroyed Therefore when I, your servant, learned all this I fled from them And God has sent me to accomplish with you things That will astonish the whole world

14:36As many as she'll hear about them For your servant is religious And serves the God of heaven day and night Therefore my Lord I will remain with you And every night your servant will go out into the valley And I will pray to God And he will tell me when they have committed their sins And I will come and tell you And then you shall go out with your whole army And not one of them will withstand you Then I will lead you through the middle of Judea Till you come to Jerusalem And I will set your throne in the midst of it And you will lead them like sheep that have no shepherd And not a dog will so much as open its mouth to growl at you For this has been told me by my foreknowledge It was announced to me and I was sent to tell you Her words pleased Helafernis in all his servants And they marveled at her wisdom and said There is not such a woman from one end of the earth To the other either for beauty of face or wisdom of speech And Helafernis said to her God has done well to send you before the people To lend strength to our hands

15:36And to bring destruction upon those who have slated my Lord You are not only beautiful in appearance but wise in speech And if you do as you have said Your God shall be my God And you shall live in the house of King Nebuchadnezzar And be renowned throughout the whole world The Book of Proverbs chapter 17 verses 9 through 12 He who forgives an offense seeks love But he who repeats a matter alienates a friend A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool And evil man seeks only rebellion And a cruel messenger will be sent against him Let a man meet a shebear robbed of her cubs rather than a fool in his folly Father in heaven we give you praise and glory thank you so much God in heaven we thank you so much You are the Lord of heaven and earth you are Lord of all your Lord of everything

16:38And we know that you are also the Lord of our stories We know that you are the Lord of history And that also means that you're the Lord of our history You're the Lord of our past you're the Lord of our future And Lord God you are the Lord of our present at this moment We place ourselves under your dominion we place ourselves under your lordship under your kingship Under your guidance under your will under your rule Under you because We can trust in you and so we do we trust in you today and every day In Jesus name we pray amen and the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit amen So I know it's been kind of a theme recently where I keep you know I say something about the Proverbs but the Proverbs chapter 17 verse 9 and 10 both just incredible He who forgives an offense seeks love and there's the next piece But he who repeats a matter alienates a friend And that goes back again to the the sins of speech and the way in which all of us Need to guard our speech He who repeats a matter alienates a friend. Yeah, because some things don't need to be said Some things don't need to be repeated and in fact some words can actually destroy relationships

17:43As it says The one who repeats a matter alienates a friend And that's so good. I mean we have the the difference between the wise person and the fool And in verse 10 it's a rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool And that's just rebuke. Yeah, here's a here's a small correction Which was deeper into a person of understanding a person who seeks wisdom a person who who wants to do the right than a hundred blows Into a fool and Gosh, you think about the ways in which here we're reading Jeremiah and we've got some big big turns some big things What happened Jeremiah has been preaching for 40 plus years that Jerusalem was going to fall And so they're supposed to surrender to King Nebuchadnezzar no one listened And so now what happens is now there's a hundred Hundred blows upon those who would not listen and so here's the people of Israel who are being decimated and being destroyed And I mean he just here's chapter 39 is I mean it's key in Jeremiah the book of the prophet Jeremiah because it's so key for the history of Israel

18:44This is the final wave of destruction the final wave of exile We're finally Nebuchadnezzar and his troops had surrounded Jerusalem You know they left and they went to fight the armies of Egypt But they came back and here is these these princes essentially leaders of Babylon and He says when Jerusalem was taken this is verse three of chapter 39 when Jerusalem was taken all the princes of the king of Babylon came and sat in the middle gate Some fun names like Nurghal Sharazar which reminds me of Pokemon for whatever reason But Nurghal Sharazar Samgar Nibo Sarsakim Nurghal Sharazar rabmeh all these people and they what do they do they park themselves at the middle gate What does that mean? I heard someone describe it like this they said it's kind of like if someone invaded Washington DC and they walked into the oval office You know sat behind the desk put their feet up that that's essentially what these princes of Babylon are doing as they sat in the middle sit in the middle gate They're basically saying yeah, this is the place of trade This is the place of coming and going. This is a place where decisions are made. This is the heart of the city of Jerusalem in some kind of In like a secular way political way and so they're camping themselves out there now. He's so interesting. We have Zedakaya remember Zedakaya who

19:51He was weak Just you know such a fickle person and we we heard yesterday that he had gone to Jeremiah and said okay Tell me privately tell me privately with the word of the Lord and Jeremiah even says I've told you publicly so many times and you never listened to me But oh here I'll tell you privately and then Zedakaya tells Jeremiah okay, don't tell anyone don't tell anyone what you told me And so Jeremiah is like okay fine, you know, but here we have Zedakaya Who doesn't even take a stand against Nebuchadnezzar right for years? Zedakaya has said no, we're gonna fight no, we're gonna fight against Nebuchadnezzar even though Jeremiah is saying no Surrender to Nebuchadnezzar and you'll live like surrender and he'll let you live in peace And God will do something in this that he's gonna be great and Zedakaya says no, we're gonna stand and fight but here what happens when Nebuchadnezzar and his armies come against Jerusalem Zedakaya flees and so they catch him on the plains of Jericho just you know, I don't know 15 20 miles from Jerusalem and then bring him up to Riblah and as I said many times Nebuchadnezzar

20:52kills Zedakaya's Suns right in front of his eyes and then Nebuchadnezzar Gouges out the eyes of Zedakaya so that the last thing he sees is the death of his Suns now this reveals a number of things But one of the things it reveals is that Nebuchadnezzar is a pretty brutal guy. This is a brutal time We know you know as we've been journeying through the Bible like this we recognize that The Bible stories are incredibly violent the people or incredibly brutal. They're living in brutal times And this is part of that. This is this is a part of that story of brutality Nebuchadnezzar gouges out the king's eyes and then taking him off carting him off the Babylon Now at the same time there's Nebuchadne the captain of the guard who's gonna play a role in that Nebuchadne I mean he recognizes that uh, here's Jeremiah Jeremiah has been I don't want to say on the side of the Babylonians He hasn't been on the side of the Babylonians. He's been on the side of the people of Israel the Jewish people But he's been but from Nebuchadnezzar's perspective Jeremiah has kind of been his pal in the sense that he has been saying for years and years

21:54Surrender to Nebuchadnezzar And so Nebuchadnezzar done the captain of the guard recognizes something in Jeremiah and he even recognizes something in the god of Israel Where he says you know, I want to give you a choice. I want to give you the choice and the choice is If you will come with me to Babylon I'll make sure that you live Comfortably like I'll make sure that you are taking care of And so please come with me to Babylon But if you want to you can stay here in Jerusalem and I'll give you a gift in some you know some provisions And here's Jeremiah who has this choice like the choice is what I can go into exile and be taken care of Or I can stay here in Jerusalem and live off trusting in the Lord And you think about this this this recognition of trusting in the Lord and how key this is because there was a story here in chapter 39 of Ebid Melek remember Ebid Melek the person who had interceded on behalf of Jeremiah when he was in the sister and he was You know syncing in the Meyer Ebid Melek had advocated on behalf of Jeremiah and what happens there's this this gift

22:56that is given to Ebid Melek by the word of the Lord where god speaks through Jeremiah and he says this He says I will deliver you on that day. There's a jurisdiction coming still But I will deliver you Ebid Melek now Ebid Melek Ethiopian who wasn't necessarily a Jew in fact He's called a eunuch and in many ways eunuchs were not allowed to participate fully in the worship of the in the temple But god says to Ebid Melek the eunuch the Ethiopian But I will deliver you on that day and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid He goes on I will surely save you you shall not fall by the sword you shall have your life as a price of war And here's why this is the key key reason Because you have put your trust in me says the Lord now This is so critical for every one of us to just hear understand and interiorize It's not because Ebid Melek was a great hero not because he was perfect not because all the All the things right not because his body was fully intact. I mean as a eunuch Might have been castrated and whatnot. No at the same time this term eunuch Sometimes just meant someone who worked in the king's court

23:58You know, but sometimes it meant someone who was castrated or work in the king's court But none of those things Mattered when it comes to this promise of god God says I'm going to deliver you from the people of whom you are afraid. Why? Because you put your trust in me And there's something so so powerful that we just need to interiorize and say okay Lord That's what you're calling me to do to live in your will to simply trust you each moment in each day of my life To do your will even when I don't understand it but to be able to say um Did I will be done and we in fact we have this we have this model by Jesus who says what father Let this cup pass from me, but not my will your will be done Now speaking of gods will being done. It's chapter 40 where where a germ i is given the choice He was aridon says okay, if you what do you want to do you want to go to Babylon? You want to stay here with get a lie? No get a lie is important for us to understand what get a lie is get a lie was a was a pointed as governor

24:59No, you never can as it was done with Lidding Israel have kings So he appoints get a lie as the governor of the remnant right the poor the weak the lame the people who he didn't want To bring with him to Babylon and also not only that but also the people who lived in the hills now When it says talks about the people in the hills these are these are kind of rebels who didn't surrender still But fled to the hills in order to be like resistance fighters essentially because we're gonna hear about we heard actually at the end of chapter 40 But one of these resistance fighters will get to him in just one second But Jeremiah has this prayer and he acts he has to ask God What do you want and so go to Babylon stay here in Jerusalem Jeremiah chooses to stay in Jerusalem now as I said at the end of chapter 40 we have this introduction of this particular person named Ishmael and Ishmael the son of Nathanaeah is Once he's one of those rogues right the resistance fighters who are living in the hills and Johanan comes to get a lie and he says listen

26:03Ishmael the son of Nathanaeah is going to kill you And get a lie instead of instead of guarding himself instead of instead of Instead of believing this instead of saying oh gosh them. That's yeah. Take care of Ishmael. Get him out of the way Get a lie says now he's not gonna do that and we're gonna see We're gonna see where that leads tomorrow as for our reading in Judith Here is the wisdom of Judith Also her beauty is remarked on quite a few times But she Proposes to Holophonies this plan that she has and the plan is is so rooted in her Jewish faith That it is it's remarkable where she convinces Holophonies that listen God will fight for us, you know Uziah or Akior when he spoke to you he was not lying He was telling the truth that as long as we're faithful to the Lord God There's no one who can defeat us But here's what's gonna happen we're not gonna be faithful to him pretty soon because we're gonna the people of my city But the liar They're not gonna give the first fruits to the Lord. They're gonna eat the first fruits themselves

27:04And then you'll know that the Lord God will not fight for them anymore And so Holophonies thinks great plan and we're gonna see how that unfolds in the next couple days We have two more days with Judith and then we're moving on to lamentations which is Ha and one note about lamentations in two days will have lamentations Lamentations is what Jeremiah saw during the siege of Jerusalem And so gosh, you know, so we I have this quick chapter 39 where it just says There was the siege and then Jerusalem fell and then they came in and sat at the gates but in lamentations Jeremiah gives us This incredibly tragic picture of here's what life was like during that siege and we're gonna we're gonna hit that in three days from now They after to the day after tomorrow, but Today I am praying for you and I'm pleased for you for me My name's Father Mike and I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless