King James Version · Babylon and the exile
Isaiah 42
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Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom delighteth; I have put upon him: he shall bring forth to the . He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set in the earth: and the isles shall wait for . Thus saith , he that created , and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and to them that walk therein: I have called thee in , and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a of the people, for a of the ; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit out of the prison house. I am : that is my name: and my will I not give to another, neither my to graven . Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them. Sing unto a new song, and his from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof. Let and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. Let them give unto , and declare his in the islands. shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his . I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once. I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools. And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in that they have not known: I will make before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them. They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly , that in graven , that say to the , Ye are our gods. Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see. Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as ’s servant? Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not. is well pleased for his ’ sake; he will magnify , and make it honourable. But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore. Who among you will give ear to this? who will and hear for the time to come? Who gave for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not , he against whom we have ? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto . Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his , and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to .
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 Isaiah