King James Version · Babylon and the exile
Isaiah 43
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But now thus saith that created thee, O , and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the , thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am thy , the One of Israel, thy : I gave for thy , and for thee. Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life. Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my , I have formed him; yea, I have made him. Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and shew us former things? let them bring forth their , that they may be : or let them hear, and say, It is truth. Ye are , saith , and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no formed, neither shall there be after me. I, even I, am ; and beside me there is no . I have declared, and have , and I have shewed, when there was no strange among you: therefore ye are , saith , that I am . Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it? Thus saith , your , the One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to , and have brought down all their nobles, and the , whose cry is in the ships. I am , your One, the creator of Israel, your King. Thus saith , which maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the ; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow. Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in , and rivers in . of the field shall me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in , and rivers in , to give drink to my people, my chosen. This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my . But thou hast not called upon me, O ; but thou hast been weary of me, O Israel. Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy . I have not caused thee to with an , nor wearied thee with . Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast thou filled me with thy : but thou hast made me to with thy , thou hast wearied me with thine . I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy for mine own sake, and will not remember thy . Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be . Thy first hath , and thy teachers have transgressed against me. Therefore I have profaned the princes of , and have given to the , and Israel to reproaches.
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