King James Version · Babylon and the exile
Daniel 1
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In the third year of the reign of king of Judah came king of unto , and besieged it. And gave king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of : which he carried into the land of to the house of his ; and he brought the vessels into the house of his . And the king spake unto Ashpenaz the master of his , that he should bring certain of the , and of the king’s , and of the princes; Children in whom was no , but well favoured, and skilful in all , and cunning in knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the king’s palace, and whom they might teach the learning and of the . And the king appointed them a daily provision of the king’s meat, and of the which he drank: so nourishing them three years, that at the end thereof they might stand before the king. Now among these were of the children of Judah, , , , and : Unto whom the prince of the gave names: for he gave unto the name of Belteshazzar; and to , of ; and to , of ; and to , of Abed–nego. But purposed in that he would not defile himself with the of the king’s meat, nor with the which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the that he might not defile himself. Now had brought into and tender love with the prince of the . And the prince of the said unto , I fear my the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which are of your sort? then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king. 11Then said to Melzar, whom the prince of the had set over , , , and , Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. 13Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the of the king’s meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. 14So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in than all the children which did eat the of the king’s meat. Thus Melzar took away the of their meat, and the that they should drink; and gave them pulse. As for these four children, gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and : and had understanding in all and . Now at the end of the days that the king had said he should bring them in, then the prince of the brought them in before . And the king communed with them; and among them all was found none like , , , and : therefore stood they before the king. And in all matters of and understanding, that the king enquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm. And continued even unto the first year of king .
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.