Exile & Return

God’s Story

Exile & Return

Judah carried to Babylon, and the long road home

The kingdom’s long unfaithfulness finally comes due: Judah is carried into exile in Babylon, and the temple lies in ruins. Yet even in judgment God keeps a remnant, and this section follows the captivity and the return to rebuild Jerusalem, the temple, and a people.

It is a section about discipline and hope. God does not abandon His promise; through Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther we watch Him preserve and restore His people even under foreign rule — setting the stage for the One in whom every promise is kept.

What you will find in this section


  • Israel Goes into Exile — Two kingdoms, two empires, and a century between them
  • Ezra — The decree, the foundation, and the man who saved a nation with a book
  • Nehemiah — Doing God’s will in the face of constant harassment — and a wall built in fifty-two days
  • Esther — The one book in the Bible that never mentions God — and He is on every page of it
  • Who’s Who in the Exile

Begin with Israel Goes into Exile.

Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.

All Scripture marked with the designation “GW”, or labelled “God’s Word”, is taken from GOD’S WORD®. © 1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God’s Word to the Nations Mission Society. Used by permission.

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