King James Version · Babylon and the exile
Isaiah 66
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Thus saith , The is my , and the earth is : where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of ? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith : but to this man will I look, even to him that is and of a contrite , and trembleth at my word. He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth , as if he a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s ; he that burneth , as if he an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their delighteth in their . I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not. Hear the word of , ye that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be . A voice of noise from the city, a voice from , a voice of that rendereth recompence to his . Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was of a man child. Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as travailed, she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith : shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the ? saith thy . Rejoice ye with , and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn for her: That ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her . For thus saith , Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the of the like a flowing stream: then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees. As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in . And when ye see this, shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of shall be known toward his servants, and his toward his . For, behold, will come with , and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his with fury, and his rebuke with flames of . For by and by his will plead with : and the slain of shall be many. They that themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s , and the , and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith . For I know their works and their : it shall come, that I will gather all nations and ; and they shall come, and see my . And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to , Pul, and , that draw the bow, to Tubal, and , to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my ; and they shall declare my among the . And they shall bring all your brethren for an unto out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift , to my mountain , saith , as the bring an in a clean into the . And I will also take of them for priests and for , saith . For as the new and the new earth, which I will make, shall before me, saith , so shall and your name . And it shall come to pass, that from one to another, and from one to another, shall come to before me, saith . And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not , neither shall their be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto .
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