King James Version · Babylon and the exile
Baruch 4
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1This is the book of of , and that endureth for ever: all they that keep it shall come to life; but such as leave it shall . 2Turn thee, O , and take hold of it: walk in the of thereof, that thou mayest be illuminated. 3Give not thine to another, nor the things that are profitable unto thee to a strange nation. 4O Israel, happy are we: for things that are pleasing to are unto us. 5Be of good cheer, my people, the memorial of Israel. 6Ye were sold to the nations, not for your : but because ye moved to , ye were unto the . 7For ye provoked him that made you by sacrificing unto devils, and not to . 8Ye have forgotten the , that brought you up; and ye have grieved , that nursed you. 9For when she saw coming upon you, she said, , O ye that about : hath brought upon me great ; 10For I saw of my sons and daughters, which the brought upon them. 11With joy did I nourish them; but sent them away with weeping and . 12Let no man rejoice over me, a , and forsaken of many, who for the of my children am left desolate; because they departed from of . 13They knew not his , nor walked in the ways of his , nor trod in the of in his . 14Let them that about come, and remember ye of my sons and daughters, which the hath brought upon them. 15For he hath brought a nation upon them from far, a shameless nation, and of a strange language, who neither reverenced old man, nor pitied child. 16These have the dear beloved children of the , and left her that was alone desolate without daughters. 17But what can I help you? 18For he that brought these plagues upon you will you from the hands of your . 19Go your way, O my children, go your way: for I am left desolate. 20I have put off the clothing of peace, and put upon me the of my : I will cry unto the in my days. 21Be of good cheer, O my children, cry unto , and he will you from the and hand of the . 22For my is in the , that he will you; and joy is come unto me from the One, because of the mercy which shall soon come unto you from the our . 23For I sent you out with and weeping: but will give you to me again with joy and gladness for ever. 24Like as now the neighbours of have seen your : so shall they see shortly your from our which shall come upon you with great , and brightness of the . 25My children, suffer patiently the that is come upon you from : for thine enemy hath persecuted thee; but shortly thou shalt see his , and shalt tread upon his neck. 26My delicate ones have gone rough ways, and were taken away as a flock caught of the . 27Be of good comfort, O my children, and cry unto : for ye shall be remembered of him that brought these things upon you. 28For as it was to go astray from : so, being returned, seek him ten times more. 29For he that hath brought these plagues upon you shall bring you joy with your . 30Take a good , O : for he that gave thee that name will comfort thee. 31Miserable are they that afflicted thee, and rejoiced at thy fall. 32Miserable are the cities which thy children : miserable is she that received thy sons. 33For as she rejoiced at thy , and was glad of thy fall: so shall she be grieved for her own desolation. 34For I will take away the rejoicing of her great multitude, and her pride shall be turned into . 35For shall come upon her from the , long to ; and she shall be inhabited of devils for a great time. 36O , look about thee toward the east, and behold the joy that cometh unto thee from . 37Lo, thy sons come, whom thou sentest away, they come gathered together from the east to the west by the word of the One, rejoicing in the of .
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Babylon and the exile, 612 BC to 539 BC ›
Babylon replaces Assyria, Jerusalem and its temple are destroyed in 586 BC, and the leadership of Judah lives in Mesopotamia without a king, a temple, or a country.
- Babylon
- Nebuchadnezzar II rebuilds the city on a scale meant to be seen from a distance: the Ishtar Gate in glazed blue brick, the processional way, the ziggurat, and gardens later counted among the wonders of the world. Babylonian tablets record rations issued to the captive king Jehoiachin of Judah by name, which is one of the tidier points of contact between the Bible and the archives.
- Egypt
- Briefly resurgent. Pharaoh Neco marches north, kills King Josiah at Megiddo, and installs and deposes kings in Jerusalem, until Babylon beats him decisively at Carchemish in 605 BC. Jeremiah spends his career saying that betting on Egypt is suicide, and is proved right.
- Judah
- Deported in stages, then destroyed. The temple is burned, the walls broken, and the leadership marched to Mesopotamia. What happens next is one of the strangest survivals in history: a people keeps its identity without land, king, or sanctuary, and comes out of it with its scriptures more central than before.
- Further afield
- An extraordinary century for ideas everywhere at once. Thales and the first Greek philosophers, Solon's reforms at Athens, the Buddha in India, Confucius and Lao Tzu in China, and Zoroaster in Persia all fall within a few generations of the exile.