Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Today we finished our 28th book of the Bible. And in case you were wondering, yes, chapter 51 is one of the longest chapters in the Bible, the sixth longest,

to be precise. It picks up where chapter 50 left off yesterday with the destruction of Babylon.

But one thing that's important for us to remember as we're reading this is that some of the

exiles of Judah are there when this invasion and destruction are taking place.

Given their track record for remembering God's word and his promises,

there's a strong chance they may have forgotten

that he's promised to rescue them and bring them back to Israel.

It's possible that all they recall is that they were driven out of their country into exile,

and now they're being attacked while in the land of their exile.

So one of the first things he says to them in this chapter is,

Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God.

He reminds them that he's there with them.

They're not alone,

and that he's active in this process,

and will bring them back and restore their fortunes.

He says he will plead their cause

and take vengeance on their behalf by way of

destroying Babylon. And when the destruction comes, all they need to do is pack up and go back to Jerusalem.

This reminds me of their exodus from Egypt, when God killed all the firstborn of Egypt and

Pharaoh finally agreed to let them go. And they didn't leave empty-handed. They had the spoils of the Egyptians as payment for their slavery.

But this time, when they leave Babylon, things will be slightly different.

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