World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Ezekiel 34
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1 word came to me, saying, ", against the of Israel. , and tell them, even the , ' says: "Woe to the of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn't the feed the sheep? You eat . You clothe yourself with the wool. You kill the fatlings, but you don't feed the sheep. You haven't strengthened the diseased. You haven't healed that which was sick. You haven't bound up that which was broken. You haven't brought back that which was driven away. You haven't sought that which was lost, but you have ruled over them with force and with rigor. They were scattered, because there was no . They became food to all the animals of the field, and were scattered. My sheep wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill. Yes, my sheep were scattered on all the surface of the earth. There was no one who searched or sought." "'Therefore, you , hear word: "As I live," , "surely because my sheep became a prey, and my sheep became food to all the animals of the field, because there was no , and my didn't search for my sheep, but the fed themselves, and didn't , 9therefore, you , hear word!" says: "Behold, I am against the . I will require my sheep at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the sheep. The won't feed themselves any more. I will my sheep from their , that they may not be food for them." "'For says: "Behold, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As a seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so I will seek out my sheep. I will them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and their fold will be on the mountains of the height of Israel. There they will lie down in a good fold. They will feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the of my sheep, and I will cause them to lie down," . "I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick; but I will destroy and the strong. I will feed them in justice."' "As for you, O my flock, says: 'Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, the rams and the male goats. Does it seem a small thing to you to have fed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture? And to have drunk of the clear waters, but must you foul the residue with your feet? 19As for my sheep, they eat that which you have trodden with your feet, and they drink that which you have fouled with your feet.' "Therefore says to them: 'Behold, I, even I, will judge between sheep and the lean sheep. Because you thrust with side and with shoulder, and push all the diseased with your , until you have scattered them abroad, therefore I will my flock, and they will no more be a prey. I will judge between sheep and sheep. I will set up one over them, and he will feed them, even my servant . He will feed them, and he will be their . I, , will be their , and my servant prince among them. I, , have spoken it. "'I will make with them a of peace, and will cause evil animals to cease out of the land. They will securely in and sleep in the woods. I will make them and the places around my hill a . I will cause the shower to come down . There will be of . The tree of the field will yield its fruit, and the earth will yield its increase, and they will be secure in their land. Then they will know that I am , when I have broken the bars of their , and have them out of the hand of those who made of them. They will no more be a prey to the nations, neither will the animals of the earth devour them; but they will securely, and no one will make them afraid. I will raise up to them a plantation for renown, and they will no more be consumed with in the land, and not bear the of the nations any more. They will know that I, , their am with them, and that they, the , are my people, . You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are men, and I am your ,' ."
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