Isaiah 40:25-31

The Book of the Prophet Isaiah offers hope and comfort to the people of Israel living in captivity in Babylon.

Here’s a part of today’s text: Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted, but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;   they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary;   they shall walk and not faint.

The Temple in Jerusalem was the center of worship and community. Its destruction was a blow difficult to fully comprehend given what we see in current worshiping patterns in U.S. America. The first and largest group was exiled in 597BCE. That is estimated to be 10,000, joined by others in 592 and 586 BCE. The total expelled is estimated at 25,000, leaving behind a remnant of about 5,000, primarily the poor and unskilled laborers.