World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Jeremiah 33
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Moreover word came to the second time, while he was still locked up in the court of the guard, saying, " who does it, who forms it to establish it— is his name, says: 'Call to me, and I will answer you, and will show you great and difficult things, which you don't know.' For , the of Israel, says concerning the houses of this city and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are broken down to make a defense against the mounds and against : 'While men come to fight with the , and to fill them with bodies of men, whom I have killed in my and in my , and for all whose wickedness I have hidden from this city, behold, I will bring it health and healing, and I will cure them; and I will to them abundance of peace and truth. I will restore the fortunes of Judah and Israel, and will build them as at the first. I will cleanse them from all their by which they have against me. I will pardon all their by which they have against me and by which they have transgressed against me. This city will be to me for a name of joy, for , and for , before all the nations of the earth, which will hear all the good that I do to them, and will fear and tremble for all the good and for all the peace that I provide to it.'" says: "Yet again there will be heard in this place, about which you say, 'It is waste, without man and without animal, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of , that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without animal,' the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the and the voice of the , the voice of those who say, 'Give thanks to of Armies, for is good, for his endures ;' who bring into house. For I will cause of the land to be reversed as at the first," . of Armies says: "Yet again there will be in this place, which is waste, without man and without animal, and in all its cities, a habitation of causing their flocks to lie down. In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the South, in the land of , in the places around , and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of him who counts them," . "Behold, the days come," , "that I will perform that good word which I have spoken concerning the and concerning the house of Judah. "In those days and at that time, I will cause a Branch of to grow up to . He will and in the land. In those days Judah will be , and will safely. This is the name by which she will be called: our ." For says: " will never lack a man to sit on of the . The priests won't lack a man before me to offer burnt offerings, to burn , and to do continually." 19 word came to , saying, " says: 'If you can break my of the day and my of the night, so that there will not be day and night in their time, then my could also be broken with my servant, that he won't have a son to reign on his ; and with the priests, my ministers. As the can't be counted, and the sand of the sea can't be measured, so I will multiply the of my servant and the who minister to me.'" 23 word came to , saying, "Don't consider what this people has spoken, saying, 'Has cast off the two families which he chose?' Thus they despise my people, that they should be no more a nation before them." says: "If my of day and night fails, if I have not appointed the ordinances of and earth, then I will also cast away the of , and of my servant, so that I will not take of his to be over the of , , and ; for I will cause their to be reversed and will have mercy on them."
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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