World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Daniel 3
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the king made an of gold, whose height was sixty and its width six . He set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of . Then the king sent to gather together the local governors, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the , the sheriffs, and all the of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the which the king had set up. Then the local governors, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the , the sheriffs, and all the of the provinces were gathered together to the dedication of the that the king had set up; and they stood before the that had set up. Then the herald cried aloud, "To you it is commanded, peoples, nations, and , that whenever you hear the sound of , flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, you fall down and the golden that the king has set up. Whoever doesn't fall down and shall be cast into the middle of a burning furnace the same hour." Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of , flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, all the peoples, the nations, and the fell down and the golden that the king had set up. Therefore at that time certain came near and brought accusation against the . They answered the king, "O king, live for ever! You, O king, have made a that every man who hears the sound of , flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music shall fall down and the golden ; 11and whoever doesn't fall down and shall be cast into the middle of a burning furnace. There are certain whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of : . These men, O king, have not respected you. They don't your gods, and don't the golden which you have set up." Then in rage and fury commanded that be brought. Then these men were brought before the king. answered them, "Is it true, , that you don't my gods and you don't the golden which I have set up? Now if you are ready whenever you hear the sound of , flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music to fall down and the which I have made, good; but if you don't , you shall be cast the same hour into the middle of a burning furnace. Who is that who will you out of my hands?" answered the king, ", we have no need to answer you in this matter. If it happens, our whom we is able to us from the burning furnace; and he will us out of your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not your gods or the golden which you have set up." Then was full of fury, and the form of his appearance was changed against . He spoke, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. He commanded certain who were in his army to bind , and to cast them into the burning furnace. 21Then these men were bound in their pants, their tunics, and their mantles, and their other clothes, and were cast into the middle of the burning furnace. Therefore because the king's was urgent and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the killed those men who took up . These three men, , fell down bound into the middle of the burning furnace. Then the king was astonished and rose up in haste. He spoke and said to his , "Didn't we cast three men bound into the middle of the ?" They answered the king, "True, O king." He answered, "Look, I see four men loose, walking in the middle of the , and they are unharmed. The appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods." Then came near to the of the burning furnace. He spoke and said, ", you servants of , come out, and come here!" Then came out of the middle of the . The local governors, the deputies, and the governors, and the king's , being gathered together, saw these men, that the had no on their bodies. The hair of their head wasn't singed. Their pants weren't changed. The smell of wasn't even on them. spoke and said, " be the of , who has sent his and his servants who trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and have yielded their bodies, that they might not nor any except their own . Therefore I make a that every people, nation, and language which speak anything evil against the of shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill, because there is no other who is able to like this." Then the king promoted in the province of .
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. 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.