World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Isaiah 48
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"Hear this, house of , you who are called by the name of Israel, and have come out of the waters of Judah. You by name, and make mention of the of Israel, but not in truth, nor in — for they call themselves citizens of the city, and rely on the of Israel; of Armies is his name. I have declared the former things from of old. Yes, they went out of my , and I them. I did them suddenly, and they happened. Because I knew that you are , and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow bronze; therefore I have declared it to you from of old; before it came to pass I showed it to you; lest you should say, 'My idol has done them. My engraved and my molten has commanded them.' You have heard it. Now see all this. And you, won't you declare it? "I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, which you have not known. 7They are created now, and not from of old. Before today, you didn't hear them, lest you should say, 'Behold, I knew them.' Yes, you didn't hear. Yes, you didn't know. Yes, from of old your ear was not opened, for I knew that you dealt very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the . For my name's sake, I will defer my , and for my , I hold it back for you so that I don't cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver. I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I will do it; for how would my name be profaned? I will not give my to another. "Listen to me, O , and Israel my called: I am he. I am the first. I am also the last. Yes, my hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and my has spread out . when I call to them, they stand up together. "Assemble yourselves, all of you, and hear! Who among them has declared these things? He whom loves will do what he likes to , and his arm will be against the . I, even I, have spoken. Yes, I have called him. I have brought him and he shall make his way prosperous. "Come near to me and hear this: " I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it happened, I was there." Now has sent me with his . , your , the One of Israel, says: "I am your , who teaches you to profit, who leads you by that you should go. Oh that you had listened to my ! Then your peace would have been like a river and your like the waves of the sea. also would have been as the sand and the of your body like its grains. His name would not nor destroyed from before me." Leave ! Flee from the ! With the sound of joyful shouting announce this, tell it even to the end of the earth; say, " has his servant !" They didn't thirst when he led them through the deserts. He caused the waters to flow out of for them. He also split and the waters gushed out. "There is no peace", , "for ."
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