World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Ezekiel 18
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1 word came to me again, saying, "What do you mean, that you use this concerning the land of Israel, saying, 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'? "As I live," , "you shall not use this any more in Israel. Behold, all are mine; as the of , so also the of the son is mine. The who , he shall . "But if a man is , and does that which is lawful and right, and has not eaten on the mountains, hasn't lifted up his eyes to the idols of the , hasn't defiled his neighbor's wife, hasn't come near a woman in her impurity, and has not wronged any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has taken nothing by robbery, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the with a garment; he who hasn't lent to them with interest, hasn't taken any increase from them, who has withdrawn his hand from , has executed true justice between man and man, has walked in , and has kept my ordinances, to deal truly; he is , he shall surely live," . "If he fathers a son who is a robber who sheds , and who does any one of these things, or who does not do any of those things but has eaten at the mountain shrines and defiled his neighbor's wife, has wronged and needy, has taken by robbery, has not restored the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed , has lent with interest, and has taken increase from , shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these . He shall surely . His will be on him. "Now, behold, if he fathers a son who sees all his which he has done, and fears, and doesn't do likewise, who hasn't eaten on the mountains, hasn't lifted up his eyes to the idols of the , hasn't defiled his neighbor's wife, hasn't wronged any, hasn't taken anything to pledge, hasn't taken by robbery, but has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the with a garment; who has withdrawn his hand from , who hasn't received interest or increase, has executed my ordinances, has walked in ; he shall not for the of his . He shall surely live. As for his , because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did that which is not good among his people, behold, he will in his . "Yet you say, 'Why doesn't the son bear the of ?' When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all , and has done them, he will surely live. The who , he shall . The son shall not bear the of , neither shall bear the of the son. The of shall be on him, and the wickedness of shall be on him. "But if turns from all his that he has committed, and keeps all , and does that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. He shall not . None of his that he has committed will be remembered against him. In his that he has done, he shall live. Have I any pleasure in the of ?" , "and not rather that he should return from his way, and live? "But when turns away from his , and commits , and does according to all the that man does, should he live? None of his deeds that he has done will be remembered. In his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his that he has , in them he shall . "Yet you say, ' of is not equal.' Hear now, : Is my way not equal? Aren't your ways unequal? 26When man turns away from his , and commits , and dies in it, then he dies in his that he has done. Again, when man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he will his alive. Because he considers, and turns away from all his that he has committed, he shall surely live. He shall not . Yet the says, ' of is not fair.' , aren't my ways fair? Aren't your ways unfair? "Therefore I will judge you, , everyone according to his ways," . "Return, and turn yourselves from all your , so will not be your . Cast away from you all your in which you have transgressed; and make yourself a new and a new . For why will you , ? For I have no pleasure in the of him who dies," . "Therefore turn yourselves, and live!
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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.
All of Ezekiel