King James Version · Babylon and the exile
Ezekiel 18
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1 unto me again, saying, What mean ye, that ye 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, saith , ye shall not have occasion any more to use this in Israel. Behold, all are mine; as the of , so also the of the son is mine: the that sinneth, it shall . But if a man be , and do that which is lawful and right, And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the , neither hath defiled his neighbour’s wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman, And hath not oppressed any, but hath restored to the debtor his pledge, hath spoiled none by , hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the with a garment; He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from , hath executed true between man and man, Hath walked in , and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is , he shall surely live, saith . If he beget a son that is a robber, a shedder of , and that doeth the like to any one of these things, And that doeth not any of those duties, but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbour’s wife, Hath oppressed and needy, hath spoiled by , hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols, hath committed , Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these ; he shall surely ; his shall be upon him. Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his ’s which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like, That hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the , hath not defiled his neighbour’s wife, Neither hath oppressed any, hath not withholden the pledge, neither hath spoiled by , but hath given his bread to the hungry, and hath covered the with a garment, That hath taken off his hand from , that hath not received usury nor increase, hath executed my judgments, hath walked in ; he shall not for the of his , he shall surely live. As for his , because he cruelly oppressed, spoiled his brother by , and did that which is not good among his people, lo, even he shall in his . Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the of ? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all , and hath done them, he shall surely live. The that sinneth, it shall . The son shall not bear the of , neither shall bear the of the son: the of shall be upon him, and the wickedness of shall be upon him. But if will turn from all his that he hath committed, and keep all , and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not . All his that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his that he hath done he shall live. Have I any pleasure at all that should ? saith : and not that he should return from his ways, and live? But when turneth away from his , and committeth , and doeth according to all the that man doeth, shall he live? All his that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his that he hath , in them shall he . Yet ye say, of is not equal. Hear now, O ; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal? 26When a man turneth away from his , and committeth , and dieth in them; for his that he hath done shall he . Again, when man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall his alive. Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not . Yet saith the , of is not equal. O , are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal? Therefore I will judge you, O , every one according to his ways, saith . , and turn yourselves from all your ; so shall not be your . Cast away from you all your , whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new and a new : for why will ye , O ? For I have no pleasure in the of him that dieth, saith : wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.
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.
All of Ezekiel