586–538 BCE

Exile in Babylon

Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed and the Judean elite deported; much of the Hebrew Bible takes shape in response.

Neo-Babylonian Empire

Persian Empire

What we can and cannot say

1
Destruction
The temple falls in 586 BCE; Babylonian chronicles corroborate the campaign.
Attested by external evidence
2
Life in exile
Cuneiform tablets from Al-Yahudu document Judeans settled in Babylonia.
Attested by external evidence
3
Literary consequence
Lament, Ezekiel's visions and editorial shaping of the Torah are read against exile.
Reconstructed / approximate

See the whole span on the timeline.