World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Isaiah 45
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says to his , to , whose I have held to nations before him and strip kings of their armor, to open the doors before him, and the shall not be shut: "I will go before you and make the rough places smooth. I will break the doors of bronze in pieces and cut apart the bars of iron. I will give you the of and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, , who calls you by your name, even the of Israel. For my servant's sake, and Israel my chosen, I have called you by your name. I have given you a title, though you have not known me. I am , and there is no one else. Besides me, there is no . I will strengthen you, though you have not known me, that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is no one besides me. I am , and there is no one else. I form and create . I make peace and create calamity. I am , who does all these things. , you , from above, and let the skies pour down . Let the earth open, that it may produce , and let it cause to spring up with it. I, , have created it. Woe to him who strives with his Maker— a pot among the pots of the earth! Shall the ask him who fashions it, 'What are you making?' or your work, 'He has no hands'? Woe to him who says to a , 'What have you become of?' or to a mother, 'What have you given birth to?'" , the One of Israel and his Maker says: "You ask me about the things that are to come, concerning my sons, and you command me concerning the work of my hands! I have made the earth, and created man on it. I, even my hands, have stretched out . I have commanded all their army. I have him up in , and I will make all his ways straight. He shall build my city, and he shall let my exiles go free, not for price nor reward," of Armies. says: "The labor of , and the merchandise of , and the , men of stature, will come over to you, and they will be yours. They will go after you. They shall come over in chains. They will to you. They will make to you: 'Surely is in you; and there is no one else. There is no other . Most certainly you are a who has hidden yourself, of Israel, the .'" They will be disappointed, yes, confounded, all of them. Those who are makers of idols will go into confusion together. Israel will be by with an . You will not be disappointed nor confounded to ages . For who created , the who formed the earth and made it, who established it and didn't create it a waste, who formed it to be inhabited says: "I am . There is no other. I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of . I didn't say to the of , 'Seek me in .' I, , speak . I declare things that are right. "Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations. Those have no knowledge who carry the wood of their engraved , and to a that can't . Declare and present it. Yes, let them take together. Who has shown this from ancient time? Who has declared it of old? Haven't I, ? There is no other besides me, a and a . There is no one besides me. "Look to me, and be , all the ends of the earth; for I am , and there is no other. I have by myself. The word has gone out of my in , and will not be revoked, that to me every knee shall bow, every shall take an . They will say of me, 'There is and strength only in .'" Even to him will men come. All those who raged against him will be disappointed. All the of Israel will be in , and will rejoice!
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 Isaiah