World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Jeremiah 2
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word came to me, saying, "Go and proclaim in the ears of , saying, ' says, "I remember for you the kindness of your youth, your love as a , how you went after me in , in a land that was not sown. Israel was to , the of his increase. All who devour him will be held guilty. Evil will come on them,"' ." Hear word, O house of , and all the families of the ! says, "What unrighteousness have your fathers found in me, that they have gone far from me, and have walked after worthless , and have become worthless? They didn't say, 'Where is who brought us up out of the land of , who led us through , through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of and of the shadow of , through a land that no one passed through, and where no man lived?' I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruit and its goodness; but when you entered, you defiled my land, and made my heritage an . The priests didn't say, 'Where is ?' and those who handle didn't know me. The also transgressed against me, and prophesied by and followed things that do not profit. "Therefore I will yet contend with you," , "and I will contend with your children's children. For pass over to the islands of , and see. Send to Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there has been such a thing. Has a nation changed its gods, which really are no gods? But my people have changed their for that which doesn't profit. "Be astonished, you , at this and be horribly afraid. Be very desolate," . "For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the spring of living waters, and cut out cisterns for themselves: broken cisterns that can't hold water. Is Israel a ? Is he born into slavery? Why has he become a ? The young lions have roared at him and their voices. They have made his land waste. His cities are burned up, without inhabitant. The children also of and have broken the of your head. "Haven't you brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken your , when he led you by ? Now what do you gain by going to , to drink the waters of the ? Or why do you go on to , to drink the waters of ? "Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backsliding will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing, that you have forsaken your , and that my fear is not in you," , of Armies. "For long ago I broke off your , and burst your bonds. You said, 'I will not ;' for on every high hill and you bowed yourself, playing the . Yet I had planted you a noble , a pure and . How then have you turned into the degenerate of a foreign to me? For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your is marked before me," . "How can you say, 'I am not defiled. I have not gone after '? See your way in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift dromedary traversing her ways, a wild donkey used to , that sniffs the wind in her . When she is in heat, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves. In her month, they will find her. "Keep your feet from being , and your throat from thirst. But you said, 'It is in . No, for I have loved strangers, and I will go after them.' As the thief is when he is found, so the is — they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their , who tell wood, 'You are ,' and a stone, 'You have given birth to me,' for they have turned their back to me, and not their , but in the time of their trouble they will say, 'Arise, and us!' "But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, if they can you in the time of your trouble, for you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah. "Why will you contend with me? You all have transgressed against me," . "I have struck your children in . They received no . Your own has devoured your , like a destroying lion. Generation, consider word. Have I been a to Israel? Or a land of thick ? Why do my people say, 'We have broken loose. We will come to you no more'? "Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me for days without number. How well you prepare your way to seek love! Therefore you have even taught women your ways. Also of the of the innocent is found in your skirts. You didn't find them breaking in, but it is because of all these things. "Yet you said, 'I am innocent. Surely his has turned away from me.' "Behold, I will judge you, because you say, 'I have not .' Why do you go about so much to change your ways? You will be of also, as you were of . You will also leave that place with your hands on your head; for has rejected those in whom you , and you won't prosper with them.
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