World English Bible · The Persian return
Ezra 9
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Now when these things were done, the princes came near to me, saying, "The people of Israel, the priests, and the have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, following their , even those of , the , the , the , , the , the , and the . For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the have mixed themselves with the peoples of the lands. Yes, the hand of the princes and has been chief in this trespass." When I heard this thing, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled the hair out of my head and of my beard, and sat down confounded. Then everyone who trembled at the words of the of Israel were assembled to me because of the trespass of the exiles; and I sat confounded . At the evening I rose up from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn; and I fell on my knees, and spread out my hands to my ; and I said, "My , I am and blush to lift up to you, my , for our have increased over our head, and our guiltiness has grown up to . Since the days of our fathers we have been exceedingly guilty to this day; and for our we, our kings, and our priests have been into the hand of the kings of the lands, to , to , to plunder, and to confusion of , as it is this day. Now for a little moment has been shown from our , to leave us a to escape, and to give us a stake in his place, that our may lighten our eyes, and revive us a little in our bondage. For we are ; yet our has not forsaken us in our bondage, but has extended to us in the sight of the kings of , to revive us, to set up the house of our , and to repair its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and in . "Now, our , what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your , which you have commanded by your servants , saying, 'The land to which you go to possess is an land through the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, through their , which have filled it from one end to another with their filthiness. Now therefore don't give your daughters to their sons. Don't take their daughters to your sons, nor seek their peace or their prosperity , that you may be strong and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an to your children .' "After all that has come on us for our evil deeds and for our great , since you, our , have punished us less than our deserve, and have given us such a , shall we again break your , and join ourselves with the peoples that do these ? Wouldn't you be angry with us until you had consumed us, so that there would be no , nor any to escape? , the of Israel, you are ; for we are left a that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guiltiness; for no one can stand before you because of this."
A public domain modern English translation, free to read and share. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · The Persian return, 539 BC to 332 BC ›
Persia takes Babylon and reverses its policy, sending exiled peoples home to rebuild their temples. Judah returns as a small province, rebuilding under imperial permission rather than independence.
- Persia
- The largest empire the world had yet seen, from the Indus to the Aegean, run through provinces, a royal road, and a postal system. Its policy on conquered peoples was to send them home and fund their temples, in exchange for loyalty and prayers for the king. The Cyrus Cylinder states the policy in Cyrus's own words, and Ezra opens with the same policy applied to Judah.
- Judah
- A small, poor province called Yehud, a fraction of the old kingdom, with a rebuilt temple that made the people who remembered the first one weep. No king, and no prospect of one. Leadership passes to priests and scribes, which shapes everything afterward.
- Greece
- Persia and Greece collide at Marathon and Salamis, Persia loses, and Athens spends the following decades on the Parthenon, tragedy, and Socrates. Herodotus writes the first history in order to explain that war. Then Plato and Aristotle, whose vocabulary the church will still be using at Nicaea eight centuries later.
- Further afield
- Rome throws out its kings and becomes a republic. In India and China this is the age of the Buddha's early followers and of Confucian teaching taking hold. More of what the world still thinks with was invented in this era than in almost any other.