World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Ezekiel 7
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1Moreover word came to me, saying, "You, , says to the land of Israel, 'An end! The end has come on the four corners of the land. Now the end is on you, and I will send my on you, and will judge you according to your ways. I will bring on you all your . My eye will not spare you, neither will I have ; but I will bring your ways on you, and your will be among you. Then you will know that I am .' " says: 'A disaster! A unique disaster! Behold, it comes. An end has come. The end has come! It awakes against you. Behold, it comes. Your doom has come to you, inhabitant of the land! The time has come! The day is near, a day of tumult, and not of joyful shouting, on the mountains. Now I will shortly pour out my on you, and accomplish my against you, and will judge you according to your ways. I will bring on you all your . My eye won't spare, neither will I have . I will punish you according to your ways. Your will be among you. Then you will know that I, , strike. "'Behold, the day! Behold, it comes! Your doom has gone out. The has blossomed. Pride has budded. has up into a of wickedness. None of them will , nor of their multitude, nor of their wealth. There will be nothing of value among them. The time has come! The day draws near. Don't let the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for is on all its multitude. For the seller won't return to that which is sold, although they are still alive; for the concerns the whole multitude of it. None will return. None will strengthen himself in the of his life. They have blown the , and have made all ready; but no one goes to the battle, for my is on all its multitude. "' is outside, and the pestilence and the within. He who is in the field will . He who is in the city will be devoured by and pestilence. But of those who escape, they will escape and will be on the mountains like of the valleys, all of them moaning, everyone in his . All hands will be feeble, and all knees will be weak as water. They will also clothe themselves with , and horror will cover them. will be on all faces, and baldness on all their heads. They will cast their silver in the streets, and their gold will be as an thing. Their silver and their gold won't be able to them in . They won't satisfy their or fill their bellies; because it has been the stumbling block of their . As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty; but they made the of their and their things therein. Therefore I have made it to them as an thing. I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to of the earth for a plunder; and they will profane it. I will also turn from them, and they will profane my secret place. Robbers will enter into it, and profane it. "'Make chains, for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of . Therefore I will bring the worst of the nations, and they will possess their houses. I will also make the pride of the strong to cease. Their places will be profaned. comes! They will seek peace, and there will be none. Mischief will come on mischief, and rumor will be on rumor. They will seek a of the ; but will from the priest, and from the . The king will mourn, and the prince will be clothed with desolation. The hands of the people of the land will be troubled. I will do to them after their way, and according to their own judgments I will judge them. Then they will know that I am .'"
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