World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Jeremiah 25
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The word that came to concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of the son of , king of Judah (this was the first year of king of ), which the spoke to all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of : From the thirteenth year of the son of , king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years, word has come to me, and I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking; but you have not listened. has sent to you all his servants , rising up early and sending them (but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear), saying, "Return now everyone from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and in the land that has given to you and to your fathers, from of old and even more. Don't go after other gods to them or them, and don't provoke me to with the work of your hands; then I will do you no harm." "Yet you have not listened to me," , "that you may provoke me to with the work of your hands to your own hurt." 8Therefore of Armies says: "Because you have not heard my words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north," , "and I will send to the king of , my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations around. I will them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations. Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the and the voice of the , the sound of the millstones, and of the lamp. This whole land will be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations will the king of seventy years. "It will happen, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of and that nation," , "for their . I will make the land of the desolate . I will bring on that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which has prophesied against all the nations. For many nations and great kings will make of them, even of them. I will them according to their deeds, and according to the work of their hands." For , the of Israel, says to me: "Take this of the of from my hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. They will drink, and reel back and forth, and be insane, because of that I will send among them." Then I took at hand, and made all the nations to drink, to whom had sent me: , and the cities of Judah, with its kings and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and , as it is today; king of , with his servants, his princes, and all his people; and all the mixed people, and all the kings of the land of , all the kings of the , , , , and of ; , , and ; and all the kings of , all the kings of , and the kings of the isle which is beyond the sea; , , , and all who have the corners of their beard ; and all the kings of , all the kings of the mixed people who in ; and all the kings of , all the kings of , and all the kings of the ; and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the world, which are on the surface of the earth. The king of Sheshach will drink after them. "You shall tell them, ' of Armies, the of Israel says: "Drink, and be drunk, vomit, fall, and rise no more, because of which I will send among you."' It shall be, if they refuse to take at your hand to drink, then you shall tell them, ' of Armies says: "You shall surely drink. For, behold, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name; and should you be utterly unpunished? You will not be unpunished; for I will call for a on all the inhabitants of the earth, of Armies."' "Therefore against them all these words, and tell them, "' will roar from on high, and utter his voice from his habitation. He will mightily roar against his fold. He will give a shout, as those who tread grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise will come even to the end of the earth; for has a controversy with the nations. He will enter into with . As for , he will give them to ,"' ." of Armies says, "Behold, evil will go out from nation to nation, and a great storm will be up from the uttermost parts of the earth." The slain of will be at that day from one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth. They won't be . They won't be gathered or buried. They will be dung on the surface of the ground. , you , and cry. Wallow in , you leader of the flock; for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions have fully come, and you will fall like fine pottery. The will have no way to flee. The leader of the flock will have no escape. A voice of the cry of the , and the of the leader of the flock, for destroys their pasture. The peaceful folds are brought to silence because of the of . He has left his covert, as the lion; for their land has become an astonishment because of the fierceness of the , and because of his .
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