World English Bible · Babylon and the exile
Jeremiah 52
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was twenty-one years old when he began to reign. He reigned eleven years in . His mother's name was the daughter of of . He did that which was evil in sight, according to all that had done. For through this happened in and Judah, until he had cast them out from his . rebelled against the king of . In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, king of came, he and all his army, against , and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about. 5So the city was besieged to the eleventh year of King . In the fourth month, in the ninth day of the month, the was severe in the city, so that there was for the people of the land. Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled, and went out of the city by night by of the between the two walls, which was by the king's garden. Now the were against the city all around. The men of war went toward the , but the army of the pursued the king, and overtook in the plains of ; and all his army was scattered from him. Then they took the king, and carried him up to the king of to in the land of ; and he pronounced on him. The king of killed the sons of before his eyes. He also killed all the princes of Judah in . He put out the eyes of ; and the king of bound him in fetters, and carried him to , and put him in prison until the day of his . Now in the fifth month, in the tenth day of the month, which was the nineteenth year of King , king of , the captain of the guard, who stood before the king of , came into . He burned house, and the king's house; and all the houses of , even every great house, he burned with . of the , who were with the captain of the guard, broke down all the walls of all around. Then the captain of the guard of the poorest of the people, and the rest of the people who were left in the city, and those who fell away, who defected to the king of , and the rest of . But the captain of the guard left of the poorest of the land to be keepers and farmers. The broke the pillars of bronze that were in house and the bases and the bronze sea that were in house in pieces, and carried all of their bronze to . They also took away the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the basins, the spoons, and all the vessels of bronze with which they ministered. The captain of the guard took away the , the pans, the basins, the pots, the lamp stands, the spoons, and the bowls; that which was of gold, as gold, and that which was of silver, as silver. They took the two pillars, the one sea, and the twelve bronze bulls that were under the bases, which King had made for house. The bronze of all these vessels was without weight. As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was eighteen ; and a line of twelve encircled it; and its thickness was four fingers. It was hollow. A capital of bronze was on it; and the height of the one capital was five , with network and pomegranates on the capital all around, all of bronze. The second pillar also had the same, with pomegranates. There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; all the pomegranates were one hundred on the network all around. The captain of the guard took the , and the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold, and out of the city he took an officer who was set over the men of war; and seven men of those who saw the king's , who were found in the city; and the of the captain of the army, who mustered the people of the land; and sixty men of the people of the land, who were found in the middle of the city. 26 the captain of the guard took them, and brought them to the king of to . The king of struck them, and put them to at in the land of . So Judah was out of his land. This is the number of the people whom : in the seventh year, three thousand twenty-three ; in the eighteenth year of , he from eight hundred thirty-two persons; in the twenty-third year of , the captain of the guard of the seven hundred forty-five people. All the people numbered four thousand six hundred. In -seventh year of of king of Judah, in the twelfth month, in the twenty-fifth day of the month, king of , in the first year of his reign, lifted up the head of king of Judah, and released him from prison. He spoke kindly to him, and set his above of the kings who were with him in , and changed his prison garments. ate bread before him continually all the days of his life. For his allowance, there was a continual allowance given him by the king of , every day a until the day of his , all the days of his life.
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