World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Ezekiel 30
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1 word came again to me, saying, ", , and say, ' says: ", 'Alas for the day!' For the day is near, even day is near. It will be a day of clouds, a time of the nations. A will come on , and anguish will be in , when the slain fall in . They take away her multitude, and her foundations are broken down. "'", Put, , all the mixed people, Cub, and the children of the land that is allied with them, will fall with them ." "' says: "They also who uphold will fall. The pride of her will come down. They will fall in it from the tower of Seveneh," . "They will be desolate in the middle of the countries that are desolate. Her cities will be among the cities that are wasted. They will know that I am when I have set a in , and all her helpers are destroyed. "'"In that day will go out from before me in ships to make the careless afraid. There will be anguish on them, as in the day of ; for, behold, it comes." "' says: "I will also make of to cease, by the hand of king of . He and his people with him, the terrible of the nations, will be brought in to destroy the land. They will draw their against , and fill the land with the slain. I will make the rivers dry, and will sell the land into the hand of evil men. I will make the land desolate, and all that is therein, by the hand of . I, , have spoken it." "' says: "I will also destroy the idols, and I will cause the to cease from . There will be no more a prince from the land of . I will put a fear in the land of . I will make desolate, and will set a in , and will execute judgments on No. I will pour my on , the of . I will of No. I will set a in will be in great anguish. No will be broken up. will have in the daytime. The young men of and of Pibeseth will fall . They will go into . At Tehaphnehes also the day will withdraw itself, when I break the of there. The pride of her will cease in her. As for her, a cloud will cover her, and her daughters will go into . Thus I will execute judgments on . Then they will know that I am ."'" In the eleventh year, in the first month, in the seventh day of the month, word came to me, saying, ", I have broken the arm of king of . Behold, it has not been bound up, to apply medicines, to put a bandage to bind it, that it may become strong to hold . Therefore says: 'Behold, I am against king of , and will break his arms, the strong arm, and that which was broken. I will cause to fall out of his hand. I will scatter the among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. I will strengthen the arms of the king of , and put my in his hand; but I will break the arms of , and he will groan before the king of with the groaning of a mortally wounded man. I will hold up the arms of the king of , but the arms of will fall down. Then they will know that I am when I put my into the hand of the king of , and he stretches it out on the land of . I will scatter the among the nations and disperse them through the countries. Then they will know that I am .'"
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