World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Habakkuk 3
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A of , the , set to victorious music. , I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds, . Renew your work in the middle of the years. In the middle of the years make it known. In , you remember mercy. came from , the One from Mount . . His covered , and his filled the earth. His splendor is like the sunrise. Rays shine from his hand, where his is hidden. Plague went before him, and pestilence followed his feet. He stood, and shook the earth. He looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains were crumbled. The age-old hills collapsed. His ways are . I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction. The dwellings of the land of trembled. Was displeased with the rivers? Was your against the rivers, or your against the sea, that you rode on your horses, on your chariots of ? You uncovered your bow. You called for your arrows. . You split the earth with rivers. The mountains saw you, and were afraid. The storm of waters passed by. The deep roared and lifted up its hands on high. The sun and moon stood still in at of your arrows as they went, at the shining of your glittering spear. You marched through the land in . You threshed the nations in . You went out for the of your people, for the of your . You crushed the head of the land of wickedness. You stripped them head to foot. . You pierced the heads of his warriors with their own spears. They came as a whirlwind to scatter me, gloating as if to devour the wretched in secret. You trampled the sea with your horses, churning mighty waters. I heard, and my body trembled. My quivered at the voice. Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, for the coming up of the people who invade us. For even though the fig tree doesn't flourish, nor fruit be in the , the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food, the flocks are the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in . I will be joyful in the of my ! , , is my strength. He makes my feet like deer's feet, and enables me to go in . For the music director, on my stringed instruments.
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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.