King James Version · Babylon and the exile
Jeremiah 44
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The word that came to concerning all the which in the land of , which at , and at , and at , and in the country of , saying, Thus saith of hosts, the of Israel; Ye have seen all the evil that I have brought upon , and upon all the cities of Judah; and, behold, this day they are a desolation, and no man dwelleth therein, Because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to , in that they went to , and to other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers. Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants , rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this thing that I hate. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no unto other gods. Wherefore my fury and mine was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of ; and they are wasted and desolate, as at this day. Therefore now thus saith , the of hosts, the of Israel; Wherefore commit ye this great evil against your , to you man and woman, child and suckling, out of Judah, to leave you none to ; In that ye provoke me unto with the works of your hands, burning unto other gods in the land of , whither ye be gone to , that ye might cut yourselves off, and that ye might be and a among all the nations of the earth? Have ye forgotten the wickedness of your fathers, and the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the wickedness of their wives, and your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah, and in the streets of ? They are not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in , nor in , that I set before you and before your fathers. Therefore thus saith of hosts, the of Israel; Behold, I will set against you for evil, and to all Judah. And I will take of Judah, that have set their faces to go into the land of to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed, and fall in the land of ; they shall even be consumed and by the : they shall , from the least even unto the greatest, and by the : and they shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and , and a . For I will punish them that in the land of , as I have punished , , by the , and by the pestilence: So that none of of Judah, which are gone into the land of to sojourn there, shall escape or , that they should return into the land of Judah, to the which they have a to return to there: for none shall return but such as shall escape. Then all the men which knew that their wives had unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of , in , answered , saying, As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of , we will not unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own , to unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of : for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we left off to to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed and by the . And when we to the queen of heaven, and poured out drink unto her, did we make her cakes to her, and pour out drink unto her, without our men? 20Then said unto all the people, to the men, and to the women, and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying, The that ye burned in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of , ye, and your fathers, your kings, and your princes, and the people of the land, did not remember them, and came it not into his ? So that could no longer bear, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the which ye have committed; therefore is your land a desolation, and an astonishment, and , without an inhabitant, as at this day. Because ye have , and because ye have against , and have not , nor walked in , nor in his , nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto you, as at this day. Moreover said unto all the people, and to all the women, Hear the word of , all Judah that are in the land of : Thus saith of hosts, the of Israel, saying; Ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths, and fulfilled with your hand, saying, We will surely perform our that we have , to to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink unto her: ye will surely accomplish your , and surely perform your . Therefore hear ye the word of , all Judah that in the land of ; Behold, I have by my great name, saith , that my name shall no more be named in the of any man of Judah in all the land of , saying, liveth. Behold, I will watch over them for evil, and not for good: and all the men of Judah that are in the land of shall be consumed and by the , until there be an end of them. Yet a small number that escape shall return out of the land of into the land of Judah, and all of Judah, that are gone into the land of to sojourn there, shall know whose words shall stand, mine, or theirs. And this shall be a sign unto you, saith , that I will punish you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil: Thus saith ; Behold, I will give –hophra king of into the hand of his , and into the hand of them that seek his life; as I gave king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of , his enemy, and that sought his life.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. 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