Day 58 ~ governments will topple

• Chapter 40 - Jeremiah is released by the captain of Nebuchadnezzar's guard releases Jeremiah. Jeremiah chooses to go with the Babylonian-appointed governer, Gedaliah, to what was the new headquarters in Judah - Mizpah. A swarm of displaced Jews came back to Mizpah and the produce of the fields.
• Chapter 41 - Ishmael the son of Nethaniah (I'd guess he is Babylonian, or possibly from another neighboring nation) kills the governor (as warned at the end of chapter 40 by Johanan but ignored by the gov), some of the 80 visitors from around the area who had come to see the governor, and tosses their bodies in a hole that had been used before by king Asa as a mass burial. Ishmael drags a bunch of Hebrews to Gibeon, and Johanan comes after him - the Hebrews go back to Johanan and Ishmael escapes. This whole scenerio scared the Hebrews, and they decide they're going to take off for Egypt. Because that worked out for them so well last time.
• The remnant left in Judah asks Jeremiah to seek what God's would have them to do and they will obey it (ha!). God says "Do not go to Egypt!" - seems clear enough. Also has some consequences attached if they do go.
• Chapter 42 - of course they call Jeremiah a liar and set off for Egypt. Why is Jeremiah still with them? He prophesies that Babylon will follow them into Egypt and take Egypt as well, and except a few who will escape and return to Judah, the rest will die in Egypt
• 42:30 - can check against egyptian and babylonian records for proof - see this reference site for some further info - http://formerthings.com/hophra.htm
• Chapter 45 - back in time again to Pharaoh Necho. This is the Egyptian who was on his way with his army to back up Assyria against the Babylonians, but they were delayed by good king Josiah of Judah and engaged and Babylon was able to defeat Assyria, then Josiah dies by arrow.
• Hey, I found a third typo in the New King James version of the Bible at BibleGateway.com. you can turn those in to them and they fix them. 47:4 - @ symbol in a word
• More kingdoms to fall to Babylon - Philistine, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar, Hazor, Elam. I guess since Judah won't listen to him, God has given Jeremiah messages for the surrounding communities.
• and another typo at 49:14 - !RM at end of second line - did they correct them yet?
• Chapter 50 - Babylon's rule will not be long - they too will be attacked and overtaken from the North. Babylon will gather all this territory to empty it directly into the basket of Persia within 70 years of the first group that left Jerusalem. They are named the Medes in 51:28
• 50:20 - in the days of Babylon's defeat "The iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none; And the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found; For I will pardon those whom I preserve. "
• 51:11 - "For His plan is against Babylon to destroy it, Because it is the vengeance of the LORD, The vengeance for His temple. "
• 51:14 - another typo - !RM
• 51:37 - another typo - !RM - geez, do a spell check.
• Okay, I get it, Babylon is going to fall. It's not as interesting when we aren't talking about the Jews
• Chapter 52 - review of the fall of Jerusalem. Perhaps Jeremiah didn't have a scroll of 2 Kings or 2 Chronicles around to read. Could I have skipped chapters 1-51 and read only chapter 52? Cliffnotes version. So, why tell us the little details about the bronze capitols?
• 52:33 - only 4,600 total people carried out of Jerusalem into captivity. I would have thought it would have been tens of thousands.
• Why would the new king (replacing Nebuchadnezzar I presume), "Evil-Merodach" give favor to the puppet king of the jews, Jehoiachin?

Turn the electronic page, and I'm done with Jeremiah! 24 books down. Not really looking forward to Lamentations, especially since I'll be cramming it in late tomorrow night after Financial Peace University class and packing for vacation to Washington DC. i guess I'm a chapter ahead, as the reading only goes to chapter 52.

Keep us in your prayers as we (Mom & Dad, Jeff, Grace) travel. And that I'll be diligent in maintaining the habit I've established over the last 58 days. Hopefully I'll have completed Ezekiel by Monday!