Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, give praise, honor, and glory to the King of Heaven. Everything he does is right. He is always fair, and he is able to make proud people humble!
You showed the miracles to Pharaoh. You did amazing things to his officials and his people. You knew that the Egyptians thought they were better than our ancestors. But you proved how great you are, and they remember that even today.
Naaman and his whole group came back to the man of God. He stood before Elisha and said, “Look, I now know there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. Now please accept a gift from me.”
Young people, I have something to say to you too. You should accept the authority of the elders. You should all have a humble attitude in dealing with each other. “God is against the proud, but he is kind to the humble.” Proverbs 3:34
Love the Lord, all of you who are his loyal followers. The Lord protects those who are loyal to him. But he punishes those who brag about their own power. He gives them all the punishment they deserve.
You warned them. You told them to come back, but they were too proud. They refused to listen to your commands. If people obey your laws, they will live. But our ancestors broke your laws. They were stubborn. They turned their backs on you. They refused to listen.
The Israelites were leaving with their arms raised in victory. But the Lord caused Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to become brave. And Pharaoh chased the Israelites.
“Tonight I will go through Egypt and kill every firstborn man and animal in Egypt. In this way I will judge all the gods of Egypt and show that I am the Lord.
So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh. They told him, “The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says, ‘How long will you refuse to obey me? Let my people go to worship me!
But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord? Why should I obey him? Why should I let Israel go? I don’t even know who this Lord is, so I refuse to let Israel go.”
So Pharaoh gave this command to his own people: “If the Hebrew women give birth to a baby girl, let it live. But if they have a baby boy, you must throw it into the Nile River.”
“You will continue to help the Hebrew women give birth to their children. If a girl baby is born, let the baby live. But if the baby is a boy, you must kill him!”
The Egyptians were burying all the people the Lord killed. They were burying all their firstborn sons. The Lord had shown his judgment against the gods of Egypt.