Babylon had been greatly devastated during the last century of Niniveh's existence, not only at the hands of Sennacherib and Assurbanipal, but also as a result of her ever-renewed rebellions.
Nebuchadrezzar, the best known ruler of Babylon in the Chaldean Dynasty, who has reigned from about 605, has continued his father's work of reconstruction, aimed at making his capital one of the world's wonders.
Apparently taking greater pride in his constructions than his victories, Nebuchadrezzar restores old temples and erects new edifices of incredible magnificence to the many gods of the Babylonian pantheon (Diodorus of Sicily, 2.95; Herodotus, 1.183).
To complete the royal palace begun by Nabopolassar, nothing is spared, neither "cedar-wood, nor bronze, gold, silver, rare and precious stones"; an underground passage and a stone bridge connect the two parts of the city separated by the Euphrates; the city itself is rendered impregnable by the construction of a triple line of walls.
The bridge across the Euphrates is supported on asphalt covered brick piers that are streamlined to reduce the upstream resistance to flow, and the downstream turbulence that would otherwise undermine the foundations.
He establishes a museum in a rebuilt and refortified city for the trophies he has won, installing the famous Ishtar Gate, and creates fanciful adaptations of Mesopotamia’s familiar irrigated hillsides on his so-called Hanging Gardens of Babylon, built for his wife to remind her of her homeland Medis.
The prophet Jeremiah, who lived in Anathoth, on the outskirts of Jerusalem, called for moral reform to establish a personal relationship between God and humankind.
He advocated resignation in the face of political and religious crisis and denounces sin as a perversion of creation.
Jeremiah called urgently for repentance so that turning to God might lead to “a new creation.“ The autobiographical passages known as the "confessions of Jeremiah" appear in the first 25 chapters of the Biblical “Book of Jeremiah” along with a collection of prophecies against Jerusalem and Judah.
It derives its name from, and records the visions of, Jeremiah, who lived in Jerusalem in the late seventh and early sixth centuries BCE during the time of King Josiah and the fall of the Kingdom of Judah to the Babylonians.
The book is written in a complex and poetic Hebrew (apart from verse 10:11, curiously written in Biblical Aramaic).
The "confessions,” probably an original collection in their own right, reveal Jeremiah's inner struggle to surrender himself to God.
The prophet (according to chapter 36), dictates his words to "Baruch, son of Neriah," who records them on a scroll (long since vanished, and constituting only one of the sources for the “Book of Jeremiah”).
The original Judahite writings comprising the core narrative of the first “Book of Kings” probably dates from this era.
They narrate the history of Israel and Judah from Solomon's accession to the decline that began during his reign, including a detailed account of Solomon's legendary wisdom and wealth and the building of the Temple at Jerusalem.
According to Jewish tradition the author of Kings was Jeremiah, whose life overlapped the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BCE.
The most common view today accepts Martin Noth's thesis that Kings concludes a unified series of books which reflect the language and theology of the Book of Deuteronomy, and which biblical scholars therefore call the Deuteronomistic history.
Noth argued that the History was the work of a single individual living in the sixth century, but scholars today tend to treat it as made up of at least two layers, a first edition from the time of Josiah (late seventh century), promoting Josiah's religious reforms and the need for repentance, and (2) a second and final edition from the mid-sixth century.
Further levels of editing have also been proposed, including: a late eighth century edition pointing to Hezekiah of Judah as the model for kingship; an earlier eighth century version with a similar message but identifying Jehu of Israel as the ideal king; and an even earlier version promoting the House of David as the key to national well-being.
