587/586–538 BCE

Destruction of the First Temple and the Babylonian exile

Babylon destroys Jerusalem and its Temple and deports Judah's leaders, and the exiles learn to keep their faith without land or Temple.

Jewish People, Jewish Thought: The Jewish Experience in History — Robert M. Seltzer, Macmillan (1980)
The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words, 1000 BCE–1492 CE — Simon Schama, Bodley Head (2013)
From the Maccabees to the Mishnah — Shaye J. D. Cohen, Westminster Press (1987)
Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures (the new JPS translation) — Jewish Publication Society, Jewish Publication Society (1985)
The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book — Norman A. Stillman, Jewish Publication Society (1979)

Well established exilefaithscripture

In 597 BCE the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem and deported its king and elite. When Judah rebelled again, his army destroyed the city and Solomon’s Temple in 587 or 586 BCE and carried many more people off to Babylonia.

Jewish People, Jewish Thought: The Jewish Experience in History — Robert M. Seltzer, Macmillan (1980)
The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words, 1000 BCE–1492 CE — Simon Schama, Bodley Head (2013)

“By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat, sat and wept, as we thought of Zion,” says Psalm 137.

Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures (the new JPS translation) — Jewish Publication Society, Jewish Publication Society (1985)

Instead of disappearing, as so many conquered peoples did, the exiles held on. Scholars believe much of the Torah and the prophetic books took their final shape during and after this period, and practices that could be kept anywhere, such as the Sabbath, circumcision and the dietary laws, became markers of who they were.

Jewish People, Jewish Thought: The Jewish Experience in History — Robert M. Seltzer, Macmillan (1980)
From the Maccabees to the Mishnah — Shaye J. D. Cohen, Westminster Press (1987)

In 539 BCE the Persian king Cyrus conquered Babylon and let the exiles go home; a Second Temple was completed around 516 BCE. But many stayed. Babylonia’s Jewish community lasted some 2,500 years and produced the Babylonian Talmud, until almost all of Iraq’s Jews left for Israel in 1950–51.

Jewish People, Jewish Thought: The Jewish Experience in History — Robert M. Seltzer, Macmillan (1980)
The Jews of Arab Lands: A History and Source Book — Norman A. Stillman, Jewish Publication Society (1979)
From the Maccabees to the Mishnah — Shaye J. D. Cohen, Westminster Press (1987)

Why it matters today

Jewish people

The exile was the first great test of whether Jews could survive without their land, and the answer became a template for the next 2,500 years. Jews still fast on Tisha B'Av for the fall of both Temples, and Psalm 137, "By the rivers of Babylon", remains a lament for every later exile.