World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Jeremiah 31
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"At that time," , "I will be the of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people." says, "The people who survive in ; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest." appeared of old to me, saying, "Yes, I have loved you with an love. Therefore I have drawn you with . I will build you again, and you will be built, O virgin of Israel. You will again be adorned with your tambourines, and will go out in the dances of those who make merry. Again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of . The planters will plant, and will enjoy its fruit. For there will be a day that the watchmen on the hills of cry, 'Arise! Let's go up to to our .'" For says, "Sing with gladness for , and shout for the chief of the nations. Publish, , and say, ', your people, of Israel!' Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the uttermost parts of the earth, along with the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her who travails with child together. They will return as a great company. They will come with weeping. I will lead them with petitions. I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they won't stumble; for I am a to Israel. is my . "Hear word, you nations, and declare it in the distant islands. Say, 'He who scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him, as a does his flock.' For has ransomed , and him from the hand of him who was stronger than he. They will come and sing in the height of , and will flow to the goodness of , to the grain, to the , to the oil, and to the young of the flock and of the herd. Their will be as a watered garden. They will not sorrow any more at all. Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance, the young men and the old together; for I will turn their into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow. I will satiate the of the priests with fatness, and my people will be satisfied with my goodness," . says: "A voice is heard in , and bitter weeping, weeping for her children. She refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more." says: "Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for your work will be rewarded," . "They will come again from the land of . There is for your latter end," . "Your children will come again to their own territory. "I have surely heard grieving thus, 'You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf. Turn me, and I will be turned, for you are my . Surely after that I was turned. I . After that I was instructed. I struck my thigh. I was , yes, even confounded, because I bore the of my youth.' Is my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I still earnestly remember him. Therefore yearns for him. I will surely have mercy on him," . "Set up road signs. Make guideposts. Set toward the highway, even by which you went. Turn again, virgin of Israel. Turn again to these your cities. How long will you go here and there, you backsliding daughter? For has created a new thing in the earth: a woman will encompass a man." of Armies, the of Israel, says: "Yet again they will use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I reverse their : ' you, habitation of , mountain of .' Judah and all its cities will therein together, the farmers, and those who go about with flocks. For I have satiated the weary , and I have replenished every sorrowful ." On this I awakened, and saw; and my sleep was sweet to me. "Behold, the days come," , "that I will sow the and the house of Judah with the of man and with the of animal. It will happen that, like as I have watched over them to pluck up and to break down and to overthrow and to destroy and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant," . "In those days they will say no more, "'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge.' But everyone will for his own . Every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth will be set on edge. "Behold, the days come," , "that I will make a with the , and with the house of Judah, not according to that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of , which of mine they broke, although I was a husband to them," . "But this is that I will make with the after those days," : "I will put in their inward parts, and I will write it in their . I will be their , and they shall be my people. They will no longer each teach his neighbor, and every man teach his brother, saying, 'Know ;' for they will all know me, from their least to their greatest," , "for I will forgive their , and I will remember their no more." , who gives the sun for a by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a by night, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar— of Armies is his name, says: "If these ordinances depart from before me," , "then the of Israel also will cease from being a nation before me ." says: "If above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then I will also cast off all the of Israel for all that they have done," . "Behold, the days come," , "that the city will be built to from to the of the corner. The will go out further straight onward to the hill , and will turn toward Goah. The whole valley of bodies and of the , and all the fields to the brook , to the corner of the horse gate toward the east, will be to . It will not be plucked up or thrown down any more ."
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