World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Jeremiah 49
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Of . says: "Has Israel no sons? Has he no ? Why then does possess Gad, and his people in its cities? Therefore behold, the days come," , "that I will cause an alarm of war to be heard against of , and it will become a desolate heap, and her daughters will be burned with ; then Israel will possess those who him," . ", , for is laid waste! Cry, you daughters of ! Clothe yourself in . , and run back and forth among the fences; for will go into , his priests and his princes together. Why do you boast in the valleys, your flowing valley, backsliding daughter? You trusted in her , saying, 'Who will come to me?' Behold, I will bring a terror on you," , of Armies, "from all who are around you. All of you will be driven completely out, and there will be no one to gather together the fugitives. "But afterward I will reverse of ," . Of , of Armies says: "Is no more in ? Has from the prudent? Has their vanished? Flee! ! in the depths, inhabitants of ; for I will bring the calamity of on him when I visit him. If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some grapes? If thieves came by night, wouldn't they steal until they had enough? But I have made , I have uncovered his secret places, and he will not be able to hide himself. His is destroyed, with his brothers and his neighbors; and he is no more. Leave your children. I will preserve them alive. Let your in me." For says: "Behold, they to whom it didn't pertain to drink of will certainly drink; and are you he who will altogether go unpunished? You won't go unpunished, but you will surely drink. For I have by myself," , "that Bozrah will become an astonishment, a , a waste, and . All its cities will be perpetual wastes." I have heard news from , and an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying, "Gather yourselves together! Come against her! Rise up to the battle!" "For, behold, I have made you small among the nations, and despised among men. As for your terror, the pride of has deceived you, O you who in the clefts of , who hold the height of the hill, though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there," . " will become an astonishment. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished, and will hiss at all its plagues. As in the overthrow of and and its neighbor cities," , "no man will there, neither will any live therein. "Behold, he will come up like a lion from the pride of against the strong habitation; for I will suddenly make them run away from it, and whoever is chosen, I will appoint him over it. For who is like me? Who will appoint me a time? Who is the who will stand before me?" Therefore hear , that he has taken against , and his purposes that he has purposed against the inhabitants of : Surely they will drag them away, the little ones of the flock. Surely he will make their habitation desolate over them. The earth trembles at the noise of their fall; there is a cry, the noise which is heard in . Behold, he will come up and fly as the eagle, and spread out his against Bozrah. of the of at that day will be as of a woman in her pangs. Of : " and are confounded, for they have heard evil news. They have melted away. There is sorrow on the sea. It can't be quiet. 24 has grown feeble, she turns herself to flee, and trembling has seized her. Anguish and sorrows have taken hold of her, as of a woman in travail. How is the city of not forsaken, the city of my joy? Therefore her young men will fall in her streets, and all the men of war will be brought to silence in that day," of Armies. "I will kindle a in the wall of , and it will devour the palaces of Ben ." Of Kedar, and of the kingdoms of , which king of struck, says: "Arise, go up to Kedar, and destroy the children of the east. They will take their tents and their flocks. they will carry away for themselves their curtains, all their vessels, and their camels; and they will cry to them, 'Terror on every side!' Flee! Wander far off! in the depths, you inhabitants of ," ; "for king of has taken against you, and has conceived a purpose against you. Arise! Go up to a nation that is at ease, that dwells without care," ; "that has neither nor bars, that dwells alone. Their camels will be a booty, and of their livestock a plunder. I will scatter to all winds those who have the corners of their beards ; and I will bring their calamity from every side of them," . will be a of jackals, a desolation . No man will there, neither will any live therein." word that came to the concerning , of the reign of king of Judah, saying, " of Armies says: 'Behold, I will break the bow of , the chief of their might. I will bring on the four winds from the four quarters of , and will scatter them toward all those winds. There will be no nation where the outcasts of will not come. I will cause to be dismayed before their , and before those who seek their life. I will bring evil on them, even my ,' ; 'and I will send after them, until I have consumed them. I will set my in , and will destroy from there king and princes,' . 'But it will happen in the that I will reverse 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