World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Ezekiel 44
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Then he brought me back by of the outer of , which looks toward the east; and it was shut. said to me, "This shall be shut. It shall not be opened, no man shall enter in by it; for , the of Israel, has entered in by it. Therefore it shall be shut. As for the prince, he shall sit in it as prince to eat bread before . He shall enter by of the porch of the , and shall go out the same way." Then he brought me by of the north before the house; and I looked, and behold, filled house; so I fell on . said to me, ", mark well, and see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I tell you concerning all the ordinances of house and all its laws; and mark well the entrance of the house, with every exit of . You shall tell the rebellious, even the , ' says: "You , let that be enough of all your , in that you have brought in , in and in , to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when you offer my bread, and ; and they have broken my , to add to all your . You have not performed the duty of my things; but you have set performers of my duty in my sanctuary for yourselves." says, "No , in and in , shall enter into my sanctuary, of any who are among the . "'"But the who went far from me when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, they will bear their . Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the of the house, and ministering in the house. They shall kill the burnt offering and the for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them. Because they ministered to them before their idols, and became a stumbling block of to the , therefore I have lifted up my hand against them," , "and they will bear their . They shall not come near to me, to execute the office of priest to me, nor to come near to any of my things, to the things that are most ; but they will bear their and their which they have committed. Yet I will make them performers of the duty of the house, for all its and for all that will be done therein. "'"But the priests, the sons of , who performed the duty of my sanctuary when the went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me. They shall stand before me to offer to me and ," . "They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my . "'"It will be that when they enter in at the of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments. No wool shall come on them while they minister of the inner court, and within. They shall have linen turbans on their heads, and shall have linen trousers on their waists. They shall not clothe themselves with anything that makes them sweat. When they go out into the outer court, even into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments in which they minister and lay them in the rooms. They shall put on other garments, that they not the people with their garments. "'"They shall not shave their heads, or allow their locks to grow long. They shall only the hair of their heads. None of the priests shall drink when they enter into the inner court. They shall not take for their wives a , or her who is ; but they shall take virgins of the of the , or a who is the of a priest. They shall teach my people the difference between the and the common, and cause them to discern between the and the clean. "'"In a controversy they shall stand to judge. They shall judge it according to my ordinances. They shall keep my laws and in all my . They shall make my . "'"They shall go in to no person to defile themselves; but for , or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister who has had no husband, they may defile themselves. After he is cleansed, they shall reckon to him seven days. In the day that he goes into , into the inner court, to minister in , he shall offer his ," . "'They shall have an : I am their ; and you shall give them no possession in Israel. I am their possession. They shall eat the , and the , and the trespass offering; and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs. The first of all the of every thing, and every of everything, of all your , shall be for the priest. You shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, to cause a to rest on your house. The priests shall not eat of anything that dies of itself or is torn, whether it is bird or animal.
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