This portion of Scripture gives the reference of when it was spoken: the fourth year of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. For twenty-three years, God had sent Jeremiah and His prophets to them telling the Judahites to repent. Notice they all got up early. Did any of the Judahites listen?
JUDAH
REIGN
ISRAEL
REIGN
Rehoboam
931-913
Jeroboam
931-910
ASA
/
JEHOSHAPHAT
Jehoram
Ahaziah
Athaliah
17 kings
Joash
Amaziah
Azariah
Jotham
Ahaz
/
HEZEKIAH
716-687
Hoshea
732-721
Manasseh
Assyrian Captivity
Amon
JOSIAH
640-608
627-- Started
Jehoahaz
608
23 years
Jehoiakim
608-597
604-- NOW
Jehoiachin
597
/
Zedekiah
597-586
/
Babylonian Captivity
18 years
You can tell from the chart that the Kingdom of Judah went into the Babylonian Captivity eighteen years after this portion of Scripture was given. The House of Israel was already taken into the Assyrian Captivity as well as most of the House of Judah. It was given in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim and in eighteen more years Judah no longer existed as a nation.
Seeking to mobilize a global front against anti-gay violence and discrimination, Vice President Joe Biden declared Tuesday that protecting gay rights is a defining mark of a civilized nation and must trump national cultures and social traditions.
Biden told a gathering of United States and international gay rights advocates that President Barack Obama has directed the United States diplomacy and foreign assistance promote the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender men and women around the world.
