World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Jeremiah 30
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The word that came to from , saying, ", the of Israel, says, 'Write all the words that I have spoken to you in a book. For, behold, the days come,' , 'that I will reverse of my people Israel and Judah,' . 'I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they will possess it.'" 4These are the words that spoke concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For says: "We have heard a voice of trembling; a voice of fear, and not of peace. Ask now, and see whether a man travails with child. Why do I see every man with his hands on his waist, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned pale? Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it! It is even the time of trouble; but he will be out of it. It will come to pass in that day, of Armies, that I will break his from off your neck, and will burst your bonds. Strangers will no more make them their ; but they will their , and their king, whom I will raise up to them. Therefore don't be afraid, O my servant, . Don't be dismayed, Israel. For, behold, I will you from afar, and from the land of their . will return, and will be quiet and at ease. No one will make him afraid. For I am with you, , to you; for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have scattered you, but I will not make a full end of you; but I will correct you in measure, and will in no way leave you unpunished." For says, "Your hurt is incurable. Your wound is grievous. There is no one to plead your cause, that you may be bound up. You have no healing medicines. All your lovers have forgotten you. They don't seek you. For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the greatness of your , because your were increased. Why do you cry over your injury? Your pain is incurable. For the greatness of your , because your have increased, I have done these things to you. Therefore all those who devour you will be devoured. All your , everyone of them, will go into . Those who plunder you will be plunder. I will make all who prey on you become prey. For I will restore health to you, and I will heal you of your wounds," , "because they have called you an outcast, saying, 'It is , whom no man seeks after.'" says: "Behold, I will reverse of tents, and have on his dwelling places. The city will be built on its own hill, and the palace will be inhabited in its own place. will proceed out of them with the voice of those who make merry. I will multiply them, and they will not be few; I will also them, and they will not be small. Their children also will be as before, and their will be established before me. I will punish all who oppress them. Their prince will be one of them, and their ruler will proceed from among them. I will cause him to draw near, and he will approach me; for who is he who has had boldness to approach me?" . "You shall be my people, and I will be your . Behold, storm, his , has gone out, a sweeping storm; it will burst on the head of . The of will not return until he has accomplished, and until he has performed the intentions of . In the you will understand it."
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