World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Jeremiah 48
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Of . of Armies, the of Israel, says: "Woe to ! For it is laid waste. is disappointed. It is taken. Misgab is and broken down. The of is no more. In they have devised evil against her: 'Come! Let's cut her off from being a nation.' You also, Madmen, will be brought to silence. will pursue you. The sound of a cry from , desolation and great ! is destroyed. Her little ones have caused a cry to be heard. For they will go up by the ascent of with continual weeping. For at the descent of they have heard the distress of the cry of . Flee! your lives! Be like the juniper bush in . For, because you have trusted in your works and in your , you also will be taken. will go out into , his priests and his princes together. will come on every city, and no city will escape; the valley also will , and the plain will be destroyed, as has spoken. Give to , that she may fly and get herself away: and her cities will become a desolation, without anyone to in them. " is he who does the work of negligently; and is he who keeps back his from . " has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his dregs, and has not been emptied from to , neither has he gone into ; therefore his taste in him, and his scent is not changed. Therefore behold, the days come," , "that I will send to him those who pour off, and they will pour him off; and they will empty his vessels, and break their containers in pieces. will be of , as the was of , their confidence. "How do you say, 'We are , and valiant men for the war'? is laid waste, and they have gone up into his cities, and his chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter," says the King, whose name is of Armies. "The calamity of is near to come, and his affliction hurries . All you who are around him, bemoan him; and all you who know his name, say, 'How the strong is broken, the beautiful !' "You daughter who dwells in , come down from your , and sit in thirst; for of has come up against you. He has destroyed your strongholds. Inhabitant of , stand by and watch. Ask him who flees, and her who escapes; say, 'What has been done?' is disappointed; for it is broken down. and cry! Tell it by the , that is laid waste. has come on the plain country— on , on Jahzah, on Mephaath, on , on , on Beth Diblathaim, on , on Beth Gamul, on Beth , on Kerioth, on Bozrah, and on all the cities of the land of , far or near. of is , and his arm is broken," . "Make him drunk, for he magnified himself against . will wallow in his vomit, and he also will be in derision. For wasn't Israel a derision to you? Was he found among thieves? For as often as you speak of him, you shake your head. You inhabitants of , leave the cities, and in . Be like the that makes her nest over the of the abyss. "We have heard of the pride of . He is very proud in his loftiness, his pride, his arrogance, and the arrogance of . I know his ," , "that it is nothing; his boastings have done nothing. Therefore I will for . Yes, I will cry out for all . They will mourn for the men of Heres. With more than the weeping of I will weep for you, of . Your passed over the sea. They reached even to the sea of . has fallen on your summer fruits and on your vintage. Gladness and joy is taken away from the fruitful field and from the land of . I have caused to cease from the presses. No one will tread with shouting. The shouting will be no shouting. From the cry of even to , even to they have uttered their voice, from even to , to Eglath Shelishiyah; for the waters of will also become desolate. Moreover I will cause to cease in ," , "him who offers in the , and him who burns to his gods. Therefore sounds for like flutes, and sounds like flutes for the men of Heres. Therefore the abundance that he has gotten has . For every head is bald, and every beard clipped. There are cuttings on all the hands, and on the waist. On all the housetops of , and in its streets, there is everywhere; for I have broken like a in which no one delights," . "How it is broken down! How they ! How has turned the back with ! So will become a derision and a terror to all who are around him." For says: "Behold, he will fly as an eagle, and will spread out his against . Kerioth is taken, and the strongholds are seized. of the of at that day will be as of a woman in her pangs. will be destroyed from being a people, because he has magnified himself against . Terror, , and the snare are on you, inhabitant of ," . "He who flees from the terror will fall into ; and he who gets up out of will be taken in the snare, for I will bring on him, even on , the year of their visitation," . "Those who fled stand without strength under the shadow of ; for a has gone out of , and a flame from the middle of , and has devoured the corner of , and the of the head of the tumultuous ones. Woe to you, O ! The people of are undone; for your sons are taken away , and your daughters into . "Yet I will reverse of in the ," . Thus far is the of .
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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