World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Ezekiel 21
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1 word came to me, saying, ", set your toward , and preach toward the sanctuaries, and against the land of Israel. Tell the land of Israel, ' says: "Behold, I am against you, and will draw my out of its sheath, and will you . Seeing then that I will you , therefore my will go out of its sheath against from the south to the north. will know that I, , have drawn my out of its sheath. It will not return any more."' "Therefore sigh, you . You shall sigh before their eyes with a broken and with bitterness. It shall be, when they ask you, 'Why do you sigh?' that you shall say, 'Because of the news, for it comes! Every will melt, all hands will be feeble, every will faint, and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it comes, and it shall be done, .'" 8 word came to me, saying, ", , and say, ' says: "A ! A ! It is sharpened, and also polished. It is sharpened that it may make a slaughter. It is polished that it may be as lightning. Should we then make mirth? The of my son condemns every tree. It is given to be polished, that it may be handled. is sharpened. Yes, it is polished to give it into the hand of the killer."' Cry and , ; for it is on my people. It is on all the princes of Israel. They are over to with my people. Therefore beat your thigh. "For there is a . What if even the that condemns will be no more?" . "You therefore, , , and strike your hands together. Let be doubled the third time, of the fatally wounded. It is of the great one who is fatally wounded, which enters into their rooms. I have set the threatening against all their , that their may melt, and their stumblings be multiplied. Ah! It is made as lightning. It is pointed for slaughter. Gather yourselves together. Go to the right. Set yourselves in array. Go to the left, wherever your is set. I will also strike my hands together, and I will cause my to rest. I, , have spoken it." 18 word came to me again, saying, "Also, you , appoint two ways, that of the king of may come. They both will come out of one land, and mark out a place. Mark it out at the head of to the city. You shall appoint a way for to come to of , and to Judah in the fortified. For the king of stood at the parting of , at the head of the two ways, to use . He shook the arrows back and forth. He consulted the teraphim. He looked in the liver. In his was the lot for , to set battering rams, to open the in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the , to cast up mounds, and to build forts. It will be to them as a false in their sight, who have to them; but he brings to memory, that they may be taken. "Therefore says: 'Because you have caused your to be remembered, in that your are uncovered, so that in all your doings your appear; because you have come to memory, you will be taken with the hand. "'You, deadly wounded one, the prince of Israel, whose day has come, in the time of the of the end, says: "Remove the turban, and take off the . This will not be as it was. Exalt that which is low, and humble that which is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it. This also will be no more, until he comes whose right it is; and I will give it."' "You, , and say, ' says this concerning , and concerning their : "A ! A is drawn! It is polished for the slaughter, to cause it to devour, that it may be as lightning; while they see for you false , while they divine lies to you, to lay you on the necks of who are deadly wounded, whose day has come in the time of the of the end. Cause it to return into its sheath. In the place where you were created, in the land of your birth, I will judge you. I will pour out my on you. I will blow on you with the of my . I will you into the hand of brutish men, skillful to destroy. You will be for fuel to the . Your will be in the middle of the land. You will be remembered no more; for I, , have spoken it."'"
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.
All of Ezekiel