World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Jeremiah 23
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"Woe to the who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!" . Therefore , the of Israel, says against the who feed my people: "You have scattered my flock, driven them away, and have not visited them. Behold, I will visit on you the evil of your doings," . "I will gather of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they will be fruitful and multiply. I will set up over them who will feed them. They will no longer be afraid or dismayed, neither will any be lacking," . "Behold, the days come," , "that I will raise to a Branch; and he will reign as king and deal wisely, and will and in the land. In his days Judah will be , and Israel will safely. This is his name by which he will be called: our . "Therefore, behold, the days come," , "that they will no more say, 'As lives, who brought up the out of the land of ;' but, 'As lives, who brought up and who led the of the out of the north country, and from all the countries where I had driven them.' Then they will in their own land." Concerning : within me is broken. All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom has overcome, because of , and because of his words. "For the land is full of ; for because of the the land mourns. The pastures of have dried up. Their course is evil, and their might is not right; for both and priest are profane. Yes, in my house I have found their wickedness," . Therefore their way will be to them as slippery places in . They will be driven on, and fall therein; for I will bring evil on them, even the year of their visitation," . "I have seen folly in of . They prophesied by , and caused my people Israel to err. In of I have also seen a horrible thing: they and walk in lies. They strengthen the hands of , so that no one returns from his wickedness. They have all become to me as , and its inhabitants as ." Therefore of Armies says concerning : "Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink poisoned water; for from of ungodliness has gone out into all the land." of Armies says, "Don't listen to the words of who to you. They teach you . They speak a of their own , and not out of . They say continually to those who despise me, ' has said, "You will have peace;"' and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own they say, 'No evil will come on you.' For who has stood in of , that he should perceive and hear his word? Who has listened to my word, and heard it? Behold, storm, his , has gone out. Yes, a whirling storm! It will burst on the head of . will not return until he has executed and performed the intents of . In the , you will understand it perfectly. I didn't send these , yet they ran. I didn't speak to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, then they would have caused my people to hear my words, and would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings. "Am I a at hand," , "and not a afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I can't see him?" . "Don't I fill and earth?" . "I have heard what have said, who lies in my name, saying, 'I had a ! I had a !' How long will this be in of who lies, even of the deceit of their own ? They intend to cause my people to forget my name by their which they each tell his neighbor, as their fathers forgot my name because of . The who has a , let him tell a ; and he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat?" . "Isn't my word like ?" ; "and like a hammer that breaks in pieces? "Therefore behold, I am against ," , "who each steal my words from his neighbor. Behold, I am against ," , "who use their , and say, 'He says.' Behold, I am against those who lying ," , "who tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their boasting; yet I didn't send them or command them. They don't profit this people at all," . "When this people, or the , or a priest, asks you, saying, 'What is the message from ?' Then you shall tell them, '"What message? I will cast you off," .' As for the , the priest, and the people, who say, 'The message from ,' I will even punish that man and his household. You will say everyone to his neighbor, and everyone to his brother, 'What has answered?' and, 'What has said?' You will mention the message from no more, for every man's own word has become his message; for you have perverted the words of the living , of of Armies, our . 37You will say to the , 'What has answered you?' and, 'What has spoken?' Although you say, 'The message from ,' therefore says: 'Because you say this word, "The message from ," and I have sent to you, telling you not to say, "The message from ," therefore behold, I will utterly forget you, and I will cast you off with the city that I gave to you and to your fathers, away from my . I will bring an on you, and a perpetual , which will not be forgotten.'"
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