World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Ezekiel 26
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In the eleventh year, in the first of the month, word came to me, saying, ", because has said against , 'Aha! She is broken! She who was the gateway of the peoples has been returned to me. I will be replenished, now that she is laid waste;' therefore says, 'Behold, I am against you, , and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up. They will destroy the walls of , and break down her towers. I will also scrape her from her, and make her a . She will be a place for the spreading of nets in the middle of the sea; for I have spoken it,' . 'She will become plunder for the nations. Her daughters who are in the field will be slain with . Then they will know that I am .' "For says: 'Behold, I will bring on king of , king of kings, from the north, with horses, with chariots, with horsemen, and an army with many people. He will kill your daughters in the field with . He will make forts against you, cast up a mound against you, and raise up the buckler against you. He will set his battering engines against your walls, and with his axes he will break down your towers. By reason of the abundance of his horses, their will cover you. Your walls will shake at the noise of the horsemen, of the wagons, and of the chariots, when he enters into your , as men enter into a city which is broken open. He will tread down all your streets with the hoofs of his horses. He will kill your people with . The pillars of your strength will go down to the ground. They will make a plunder of your riches and make a prey of your merchandise. They will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses. They will lay your stones, your timber, and your in the middle of the waters. I will cause the noise of your songs to cease. The sound of your harps won't be heard any more. I will make you a . You will be a place for the spreading of nets. You will be built no more; for I have spoken it,' . " says to : 'Won't the islands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when the slaughter is made within you? Then all the princes of the sea will come down from their , and lay aside their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling. They will sit on the ground, and will tremble every moment, and be astonished at you. They will take up a over you, and tell you, "How you are destroyed, who were inhabited by seafaring men, the renowned city, who was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, who caused their terror to be on all who lived there!" Now the islands will tremble in the day of your fall. Yes, the islands that are in the sea will be dismayed at your departure.' "For says: 'When I make you a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep on you, and the great waters cover you, then I will bring you down with those who descend into , to the people of old time, and will make you in the lower parts of the earth, in the places that are desolate of old, with those who go down to , that you be not inhabited; and I will set in the land of the living. I will make you a terror, and you will no more have any being. Though you are sought for, yet you will never be found again,' ."
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