World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Daniel 1
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In the third year of the reign of king of Judah, king of came to and besieged it. gave king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of ; and he carried them into the land of to the house of his . He brought the vessels into the house of his . The king spoke to Ashpenaz, the master of his , that he should bring in some of the , even of the royal and of the nobles: youths in whom was , but well-favored, skillful in all , endowed with knowledge, understanding science, and who had the ability to stand in the king's palace; and that he should teach them the learning and the language of the . The king appointed for them a daily of the king's delicacies and of the which he drank, and that they should be nourished three years, that at its end they should stand before the king. Now among these of the children of Judah were , , , and . The prince of the gave names to them: to he gave the name Belteshazzar; to , ; to , ; and to , . But purposed in that he would not defile himself with the king's delicacies, nor with the which he drank. Therefore he requested of the prince of the that he might not defile himself. Now made find kindness and in the sight of the prince of the . The prince of the said to , "I fear my the king, who has appointed your food and your drink. For why should he see your faces worse looking than the youths who are of your own age? Then you would endanger my head with the king." 11Then said to the steward whom the prince of the had appointed over , , , and : " your servants, I beg you, ten days; and let them give us vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13Then let our faces be examined before you, and the of the youths who eat of the king's delicacies; and as you see, deal with your servants." 14So he listened to them in this matter, and them for ten days. At the end of ten days, their faces appeared fairer and they were fatter in than all the youths who ate of the king's delicacies. So the steward took away their delicacies and the that they were given to drink, and gave them vegetables. Now as for these four youths, gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and ; and had understanding in all and . At the end of the days which the king had appointed for bringing them in, the prince of the brought them in before . The king talked with them; and among them all was found no one like , , , and . Therefore they stood before the king. In every matter of and understanding concerning which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters who were in all his realm. continued even to the first year of King .
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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.