World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Jeremiah 38
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Shephatiah the son of Mattan, the son of , the son of , and the son of Malchijah heard the words that spoke to all the people, saying, " says, 'He who in this city will , by the , and by the pestilence, but he who goes out to the will live. He will escape with his life and he will live.' says, 'This city will surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of , and he will take it.'" Then the princes said to the king, "Please let this man be put to , because he weakens the hands of the men of war who in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them; for this man doesn't seek the welfare of this people, but harm." the king said, "Behold, he is in your hand; for the king can't do anything to oppose you." Then they took and threw him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king's son, that was in the court of the guard. They let down with cords. In the dungeon there was no water, but mire; and sank in the mire. Now when Ebedmelech the , a , who was in the king's house, heard that they had put in the dungeon (the king was then sitting in ), 8Ebedmelech went out of the king's house, and spoke to the king, saying, "My the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to the , whom they have cast into the dungeon. He is likely to in the place where he is, because of the ; for there is no more bread in the city." Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the , saying, "Take from here thirty men with you, and take up the out of the dungeon, before he dies." 11So Ebedmelech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the , and took from there rags and worn-out garments, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to . Ebedmelech the said to , "Now put these rags and worn-out garments under your armpits under the cords." did so. So they lifted up with the cords, and took him up out of the dungeon; and remained in the court of the guard. Then the king sent and took the to himself into the third entry that is in house. Then the king said to , "I will ask you something. Hide nothing from me." Then said to , "If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to ? If I give you , you will not listen to me." So the king secretly to , saying, "As lives, who made our , I will not put you to , neither will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life." Then said to , ", the of Armies, the of Israel, says: 'If you will go out to the king of princes, then your will live, and this city will not be burned with . You will live, along with your house. But if you will not go out to the king of princes, then this city will be given into the hand of the , and they will burn it with , and you won't escape out of their hand.'" the king said to , "I am afraid of the who have defected to the , lest they me into their hand, and they mock me." But said, "They won't you. , I beg you, voice, in that which I speak to you; so it will be well with you, and your will live. But if you refuse to go out, this is the word that has shown me: 'Behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah's house will be brought out to the king of princes, and those women will say, "Your familiar friends have turned on you, and have prevailed over you. Your feet are sunk in the mire, they have turned away from you." They will bring out all your wives and your children to the . You won't escape out of their hand, but will be taken by the hand of the king of . You will cause this city to be burned with .'" 24Then said to , "Let no man know of these words, and you won't . But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you, and tell you, 'Declare to us now what you have said to the king; don't hide it from us, and we will not put you to ; also tell us what the king said to you;' then you shall tell them, 'I presented my before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's house, to there.'" Then all the princes came to , and asked him; and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they stopped speaking with him, for the matter was not perceived. So stayed in the court of the guard until the day that was taken.
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