World English Bible · Babylon and the exile

Ezekiel 40

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In the twenty-fifth year of our , of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck, in the same day, hand was on me, and he brought me there. In the of he brought me into the land of Israel, and set me down on a very high mountain, on which was something like the frame of a city to the south. He brought me there; and, behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of bronze, with a line of flax in his hand and a measuring reed; and he stood in the . The man said to me, ", see with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set on all that I will show you; for you have been brought here so that I may show them to you. Declare all that you see to the ." Behold, there was a wall on the outside of the house all around, and in the man's hand a measuring reed six long, of a and a hand width each. So he measured the thickness of the building, one reed; and the height, one reed. Then he came to the which looks toward the east, and went up its steps. He measured the threshold of the , one reed wide; and the other threshold, one reed wide. Every lodge was one reed long and one reed wide. Between the lodges was five . The threshold of the by the porch of the toward the house was one reed. ⁸He measured also the porch of the toward the house, one reed. Then he measured the porch of the , eight ; and its posts, two ; and the porch of the was toward the house. ¹⁰The side rooms of the eastward were three on this side, and three on that side. The three of them were of one measure. The posts had one measure on this side and on that side. ¹¹He measured the width of the opening of the , ten ; and the length of the , thirteen ; ¹²and a border before the lodges, one on this side, and a border, one on that side; and the side rooms, six on this side, and six on that side. ¹³He measured the from the roof of the one side room to the roof of the other, a width of twenty-five , door against door. He also made posts, sixty ; and the court reached to the posts, around the . ¹⁵From the forefront of the at the entrance to the forefront of the inner porch of the were fifty . There were closed windows to the side rooms, and to their posts within the all around, and likewise to the arches. Windows were around inward. Palm trees were on each post. Then he brought me into the outer court. Behold, there were rooms and a pavement made for the court all around. Thirty rooms were on the pavement. ¹⁸The pavement was by the side of the , corresponding to the length of the , even the lower pavement. Then he measured the width from the forefront of the lower to the forefront of the inner court outside, one hundred , both on the east and on the north. He measured the length and width of the of the outer court which faces toward the north. The lodges of it were three on this side and three on that side. Its posts and its arches were the same as the measure of the first : its length was fifty , and the width twenty-five . Its windows, its arches, and its palm trees were the same as the measure of the which faces toward the east. They went up to it by seven steps. Its arches were before them. There was a to the inner court facing the other , on the north and on the east. He measured one hundred from to . He led me toward the south; and behold, there was a toward the south. He measured its posts and its arches according to these measurements. There were windows in it and in its arches all around, like the other windows: the length was fifty , and the width twenty-five . There were seven steps to go up to it, and its arches were before them. It had palm trees, one on this side, and another on that side, on its posts. There was a to the inner court toward the south. He measured one hundred from to toward the south. Then he brought me to the inner court by the south . He measured the south according to these measurements; with its lodges, its posts, and its arches, according to these measurements. There were windows in it and in its arches all around. It was fifty long, and twenty-five wide. There were arches all around, twenty-five long and five wide. Its arches were toward the outer court. Palm trees were on its posts. The ascent to it had eight steps. He brought me into the inner court toward the east. He measured the according to these measurements; with its lodges, its posts, and its arches, according to these measurements. There were windows in it and in its arches all around. It was fifty long, and twenty-five wide. Its arches were toward the outer court. Palm trees were on its posts on this side and on that side. The ascent to it had eight steps. He brought me to the north , and he measured it according to these measurements— its lodges, its posts, and its arches. There were windows in it all around. The length was fifty and the width twenty-five . Its posts were toward the outer court. Palm trees were on its posts on this side and on that side. The ascent to it had eight steps. A room with its door was by the posts at the . They washed the burnt offering there. In the porch of the were two tables on this side and two tables on that side, on which to kill the burnt offering, the , and the trespass offering. ⁴⁰On the one side outside, as one goes up to the entry of the toward the north, were two tables; and on the other side, which belonged to the porch of the , were two tables. Four tables were on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the : eight tables, on which they killed the . There were four cut stone tables for the burnt offering, a and a half long, a and a half wide, and one high. They laid the instruments with which they killed the burnt offering and the on them. The hooks, a hand width long, were fastened within all around. The meat of the was on the tables. Outside of the inner were rooms for the singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north . They faced toward the south. One at the side of the east faced toward the north. He said to me, "This room, which faces toward the south, is for the priests who perform the duty of the house. The room which faces toward the north is for the priests who perform the duty of the . These are the sons of , who from among the come near to to minister to him." He measured the court, one hundred long and one hundred wide, square. The was before the house. Then he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five on this side, and five on that side. The width of the was three on this side and three on that side. The length of the porch was twenty and the width eleven , even by the steps by which they went up to it. There were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and another on that side.

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.

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