World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Ezekiel 37
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hand was on me, and he brought me out in , and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. He caused me to pass by them all around; and behold, there were very many in the open valley, and behold, they were very dry. He said to me, ", can these bones live?" I answered, " , you know." Again he said to me, " over these bones, and tell them, 'You dry bones, hear word. says to these bones: "Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you will live. I will lay sinews on you, and will bring up on you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you will live. Then you will know that I am ."'" So I prophesied as I was commanded. As I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, there was an earthquake. Then the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8I saw, and, behold, there were sinews on them, and came up, and skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, " to the wind, , , and tell the wind, ' says: "Come from the four winds, breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live."'" So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up on their feet, an exceedingly great army. Then he said to me, ", these bones are the whole . Behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our is lost. We are completely .' Therefore , and tell them, ' says: "Behold, I will open your , and cause you to come up out of your , my people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. You will know that I am , when I have opened your and caused you to come up out of your , my people. I will put in you, and you will live. Then I will place you in your own land; and you will know that I, , have spoken it and performed it," .'" 15 word came again to me, saying, "You, , take one stick and write on it, 'For Judah, and for the his companions.' Then take another stick, and write on it, 'For , the stick of , and for all the his companions.' Then join them for yourself to one another into one stick, that they may become one in your hand. "When the children of your people speak to you, saying, 'Won't you show us what you mean by these?' tell them, ' says: "Behold, I will take the stick of , which is in the hand of , and the tribes of Israel his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in my hand. The sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes."' Say to them, ' says: "Behold, I will take the from among the nations where they have gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. One king will be king to them all. They will no longer be two nations. They won't be divided into two kingdoms any more at all. They won't defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their things, nor with any of their ; but I will them out of all their dwelling places in which they have , and will cleanse them. So they will be my people, and I will be their . "'"My servant will be king over them. They all will have one . They will also walk in my ordinances and observe , and do them. They will in the land that I have given to my servant, in which your fathers lived. They will therein, they, and their children, and their children's children, . my servant will be their prince . Moreover I will make a of peace with them. It will be an with them. I will place them, multiply them, and will set my sanctuary among them more. My tent also will be with them. I will be their , and they will be my people. will know that I am who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is among them more."'"
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