World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Isaiah 60
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"Arise, shine; for your has come, and has on you! For behold, will cover the earth, and thick the peoples; but will arise on you, and his shall be seen on you. Nations will come to your , and kings to the brightness of your rising. "Lift up your eyes all around, and see: they all gather themselves together. They come to you. Your sons will come from far away, and your daughters will be carried in arms. Then you shall see and be radiant, and will thrill and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you. The wealth of the nations will come to you. A multitude of camels will cover you, the dromedaries of and Ephah. All from will come. They will bring gold and , and will proclaim the of . All the flocks of will be gathered together to you. The rams of will you. They will be accepted as on my ; and I will beautify my house. "Who are these who fly as a cloud, and as the to their windows? Surely the islands will wait for me, and the ships of first, to bring your sons from far away, their silver and their gold with them, for the name of your , and for the One of Israel, because he has glorified you. " will build up your walls, and their kings will you; for in my I struck you, but in my I have had mercy on you. Your also shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night, that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations, and their kings led . For that nation and kingdom that will not you shall ; yes, those nations shall be utterly wasted. "The of shall come to you, the cypress tree, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet . The sons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you; and all those who despised you will bow themselves down at the soles of your feet. They will call you City, the of the One of Israel. "Whereas you have been forsaken and hated, so that no one passed through you, I will make you an excellency, a joy of many generations. You will also drink the milk of the nations, and will nurse from royal breasts. Then you will know that I, , am your , your , the Mighty One of . For bronze I will bring gold; for iron I will bring silver; for wood, bronze, and for stones, iron. I will also make peace your governor, and your ruler. shall no more be heard in your land, nor desolation or within your borders; but you will call your walls , and your . The sun will be no more your by day, nor will the brightness of the moon give to you, but will be your , and your will be your . Your sun will not go down any more, nor will your moon withdraw itself; for will be your , and the days of your will end. Then your people will all be . They will the land , the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. The little one will become a thousand, and the small one a strong nation. I, , will do this quickly in its time."
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