World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Jeremiah 10
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Hear the word which speaks to you, ! says, "Don't learn of the nations, and don't be dismayed at the signs of ; for the nations are dismayed at them. For the customs of the peoples are ; for one cuts a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the ax. They deck it with silver and with gold. They fasten it with nails and with hammers, so that it can't move. They are like a palm tree, of turned work, and don't speak. They must be carried, because they can't move. Don't be afraid of them; for they can't do evil, neither is it in them to do good." There is no one like you, . You are great, and your name is great in might. Who shouldn't fear you, King of the nations? For it belongs to you. Because among all men of the nations, and in all their royal estate, there is no one like you. But they are together brutish and foolish, instructed by idols! It is wood. There is silver beaten into plates, which is brought from , and gold from Uphaz, the work of the engraver and of the hands of the goldsmith. Their clothing is blue and purple. They are all the work of skillful men. But is the true . He is the living , and an King. At his , the earth trembles. aren't able to withstand his . "You shall say this to them: 'The gods that have not made and the earth will from the earth, and from under .'" has made the earth by his . He has established the world by his , and by his understanding has he stretched out . When he utters his voice, the waters in roar, and he causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightnings for the , and brings the wind out of his treasuries. Every man has become brutish and without knowledge. Every goldsmith is disappointed by his engraved ; for his molten is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are , a work of delusion. In the time of their visitation they will . The of is not like these; for he is the maker of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his . of Armies is his name. Gather up your wares out of the land, you who live under siege. For says, "Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this time, and will distress them, that they may feel it." Woe is me because of my injury! My wound is serious; but I said, "Truly this is my grief, and I must bear it." My tent has been destroyed, and all my cords are broken. My children have gone away from me, and they are no more. There is no one to spread my tent any more, to set up my curtains. For the have become brutish, and have not inquired of . Therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks have scattered. The voice of news, behold, it comes, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a of jackals. , I know that of man is not in himself. It is not in man who walks to direct his steps. , correct me, but gently; not in your , lest you reduce me to nothing. Pour out your on the nations that don't know you, and on the families that don't call on your name; for they have devoured . Yes, they have devoured him, consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation.
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 Jeremiah