World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Ezekiel 32
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In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, word came to me, saying, ", take up a over king of , and tell him, 'You were likened to a young lion of the nations; yet you are as a monster in the seas. You broke out with your rivers, and troubled the waters with your feet, and fouled their rivers.'" says: "I will spread out my net on you with a company of many peoples. They will bring you up in my net. I will leave you on the land. I will cast you out on the open field, and will cause all the birds of to settle on you. I will satisfy the animals of the whole earth with you. I will lay your on the mountains, and fill the valleys with your height. I will also water the land in which you swim with your , even to the mountains. The watercourses will be full of you. When I extinguish you, I will cover and make its stars dark. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon won't give its . I will make all the bright lights of dark over you, and set on your land," . "I will also trouble the of many peoples, when I bring your among the nations, into the countries which you have not known. Yes, I will make many peoples amazed at you, and their kings will be horribly afraid for you, when I brandish my before them. They will tremble at every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of your fall." For says: " of the king of will come on you. I will cause your multitude to fall by the of the mighty. They are all the ruthless of the nations. They will bring the pride of to nothing, and all its multitude will be destroyed. I will destroy also all its animals from beside many waters. The foot of man won't trouble them any more, nor will the hoofs of animals trouble them. 14Then I will make their waters clear, and cause their rivers to run like oil," . "When I make the land of desolate and waste, a land destitute of that of which it was full, when I strike all those who therein, then they will know that I am . "'"This is the with which they will . The daughters of the nations will with this. They will with it over , and over all her multitude," .'" Also in the twelfth year, in the fifteenth day of the month, word came to me, saying, ", for of , and cast them down, even her and the daughters of the famous nations, to the lower parts of the earth, with those who go down into . Whom do you pass in beauty? Go down, and be laid with the . They will fall among those who are slain . She is to . Draw her away with all her . The strong among the mighty will speak to him out of the middle of with those who help him. They have gone down. The lie still, slain . " is there with all her company. Her are all around her. All of them are slain, fallen , whose are set in the uttermost parts of , and her company is around her , all of them slain, fallen , who caused terror in the land of the living. "There is and all her multitude around her ; all of them slain, fallen , who have gone down into the lower parts of the earth, who caused their terror in the land of the living, and have borne their with those who go down to . They have made a bed among the slain with all her multitude. Her are around her, all of them , slain ; for their terror was caused in the land of the living, and they have borne their with those who go down to . He is put among those who are slain. "There is , , and all their multitude. Their are around them, all of them , slain ; for they caused their terror in the land of the living. They will not lie with the mighty who are fallen of the , who have gone down to with their weapons of war and have laid their under their heads. Their are on their bones; for they were the terror of the mighty in the land of the living. "But you will be broken among the , and will lie with those who are slain . "There is , her kings, and all her princes, who in their might are laid with those who are slain . They will lie with the , and with those who go down to . "There are the princes of the north, all of them, and all the , who have gone down with the slain. They are in the terror which they caused by their might. They lie with those who are slain , and bear their with those who go down to . " will see them and will be comforted over all his multitude, even and all his army, slain ," . "For I have put his terror in the land of the living. He will be laid among the , with those who are slain , even and all his multitude," .
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