King James Version · Babylon and the exile
The Prayer of Azariah
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1And they walked in the midst of the , praising , and . 2Then stood up, and on this manner; and opening his in the midst of the said, 3 art thou, O of our fathers: thy name is worthy to be praised and glorified for evermore: 4For thou art in all the things that thou hast done to us: yea, true are all thy works, thy ways are right, and all thy judgments truth. 5In all the things that thou hast brought upon us, and upon the city of our fathers, even , thou hast executed true : for according to truth and didst thou bring all these things upon us because of our . 6For we have and committed , departing from thee. 7In all things have we trespassed, and not thy , nor kept them, neither done as thou hast commanded us, that it might go well with us. 8Wherefore all that thou hast brought upon us, and every thing that thou hast done to us, thou hast done in true . 9And thou didst us into the hands of lawless , most hateful forsakers of , and to an unjust king, and the most in all the world. 10And now we cannot open our mouths, we are become a and to thy servants; and to them that thee. 11Yet us not up wholly, for thy name’s sake, neither disannul thou thy : 12And cause not thy mercy to depart from us, for thy beloved ’s sake, for thy servant Issac’s sake, and for thy Israel’s sake; 13To whom thou hast spoken and promised, that thou wouldest multiply their as the stars of , and as the sand that lieth upon the seashore. 14For we, O , are become less than any nation, and be kept under this day in all the world because of our . 15Neither is there at this time prince, or , or leader, or burnt offering, or , or oblation, or , or place to before thee, and to find mercy. 16Nevertheless in a contrite and an humble let us be accepted. 17Like as in the burnt offerings of rams and bullocks, and like as in ten thousands of fat lambs: so let our be in thy sight this day, and grant that we may wholly go after thee: for they shall not be confounded that put their in thee. 18And now we follow thee with all our , we fear thee, and seek thy . 19Put us not to : but deal with us after thy , and according to of thy . 20 us also according to thy marvellous works, and give to thy name, O : and let all them that do thy servants hurt be ; 21And let them be confounded in all their and might, and let their strength be broken; 22And let them know that thou art , the only , and over the whole world. 23And the king’s servants, that put them in, ceased not to make the oven hot with rosin, pitch, tow, and small wood; 24So that the flame streamed forth above the furnace forty and nine . 25And it passed through, and burned those it found about the furnace. 26But came down into the oven together with and his fellows, and smote the flame of the out of the oven; 27And made the midst of the furnace as it had been a moist whistling wind, so that the touched them not at all, neither hurt nor troubled them. 28Then the three, as out of one , praised, glorified, and , in the furnace, saying, 29 art thou, O of our fathers: and to be praised and exalted above all for ever. 30And is thy and name: and to be praised and exalted above all for ever. 31 art thou in of thine : and to be praised and glorified above all for ever. 32 art thou that beholdest the depths, and sittest upon the cherubims: and to be praised and exalted above all for ever. 33 art thou on the of thy kingdom: and to be praised and glorified above all for ever. 34 art thou in the firmament of : and above all to be praised and glorified for ever. 35O all ye works of , ye : and exalt him above all for ever, 36O ye , ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 37O ye of , ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 38O all ye waters that be above the , ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 39O all ye powers of , ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 40O ye sun and moon, ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 41O ye stars of , ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 42O every shower and , ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 43O all ye winds, ye : and exalt him above all for ever, 44O ye and heat, ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 45O ye winter and summer, ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 46O ye dews and storms of snow, ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 47O ye nights and days, ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 48O ye and , ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 49O ye ice and cold, ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 50O ye frost and snow, ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 51O ye lightnings and clouds, ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 52O let the earth : and exalt him above all for ever. 53O ye mountains and little hills, ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 54O all ye things that grow in the earth, ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 55O ye mountains, ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 56O ye seas and rivers, ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 57O ye whales, and all that move in the waters, ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 58O all ye fowls of the air, ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 59O all ye and cattle, ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 60O ye children of men, ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 61O Israel, ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 62O ye priests of , ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 63O ye servants of , ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 64O ye spirits and of , ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 65O ye and humble men of , ye : and exalt him above all for ever. 66O , , and , ye : and exalt him above all for ever: far he hath us from hell, and us from the hand of , and us out of the midst of the furnace and burning flame: even out of the midst of the hath he us. 67O give thanks unto , because he is : for his mercy endureth for ever. 68O all ye that , the of gods, him, and give him thanks: for his mercy endureth for ever.
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 The Prayer of Azariah