King James Version · Babylon and the exile
Ezekiel 48
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Now these are the names of the tribes. From the north end to the coast of of Hethlon, as one goeth to , Hazar–enan, the border of northward, to the coast of ; for these are his sides east and west; a for Dan. And by the border of Dan, from the east side unto the west side, a for Asher. And by the border of Asher, from the east side even unto the west side, a for . And by the border of , from the east side unto the west side, a for . And by the border of , from the east side unto the west side, a for . And by the border of , from the east side even unto the west side, a for . And by the border of , from the east side unto the west side, a for Judah. And by the border of Judah, from the east side unto the west side, shall be the which ye shall offer of five and twenty thousand reeds in breadth, and in length as one of the other parts, from the east side unto the west side: and shall be in the midst of it. 9The oblation that ye shall offer unto shall be of five and twenty thousand in length, and of ten thousand in breadth. And for them, even for the priests, shall be this oblation; toward the north five and twenty thousand in length, and toward the west ten thousand in breadth, and toward the east ten thousand in breadth, and toward the south five and twenty thousand in length: and of shall be in the midst thereof. It shall be for the priests that are of the sons of ; which have kept my charge, which went not astray when the went astray, as the went astray. And this oblation of the land that is offered shall be unto them a thing most by the border of the . And over against the border of the priests the shall have five and twenty thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth: all the length shall be five and twenty thousand, and the breadth ten thousand. And they shall not sell of it, neither exchange, nor alienate the of the land: for it is unto . And the five thousand, that are left in the breadth over against the five and twenty thousand, shall be a profane place for the city, for dwelling, and for suburbs: and the city shall be in the midst thereof. And these shall be the measures thereof; the north side four thousand and five hundred, and the south side four thousand and five hundred, and on the east side four thousand and five hundred, and the west side four thousand and five hundred. 17And the suburbs of the city shall be toward the north two hundred and fifty, and toward the south two hundred and fifty, and toward the east two hundred and fifty, and toward the west two hundred and fifty. And the residue in length over against the oblation of the shall be ten thousand eastward, and ten thousand westward: and it shall be over against the oblation of the ; and the increase thereof shall be for food unto them that the city. And they that the city shall it out of all the tribes of Israel. All the oblation shall be five and twenty thousand by five and twenty thousand: ye shall offer the oblation foursquare, with the possession of the city. And the residue shall be for the prince, on the one side and on the other of the oblation, and of the possession of the city, over against the five and twenty thousand of the oblation toward the east border, and westward over against the five and twenty thousand toward the west border, over against the portions for the prince: and it shall be the oblation; and of the house shall be in the midst thereof. 22Moreover from the possession of the , and from the possession of the city, being in the midst of that which is the prince’s, between the border of Judah and the border of , shall be for the prince. As for the rest of the tribes, from the east side unto the west side, shall have a . And by the border of , from the east side unto the west side, shall have a . And by the border of , from the east side unto the west side, a . And by the border of , from the east side unto the west side, a . And by the border of , from the east side unto the west side, Gad a . And by the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border shall be even from unto the waters of strife in , and to the river toward the great sea. This is the land which ye shall divide by lot unto the tribes of Israel for , and these are their portions, saith . And these are the goings out of the city on the north side, four thousand and five hundred measures. And the of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel: three northward; one of , one of Judah, one of . 32And at the east side four thousand and five hundred: and three ; and one of , one of , one of Dan. 33And at the south side four thousand and five hundred measures: and three ; one of , one of , one of . 34At the west side four thousand and five hundred, with their three ; one of Gad, one of Asher, one of . It was round about eighteen thousand measures: and the name of the city from that day shall be, is there.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. 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