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597 - 445 BC · 2 Kings 24 - 25; Ezra; Nehemiah

The exile and the return

Judah carried to Babylon, and the road back under Persia

SINAINEGEVJUDEASAMARIAGALILEEPEREADECAPOLISMOABEDOMAMMONGILEADBASHANPHOENICIASYRIAARABIAMESOPOTAMIABABYLONIAASSYRIACYPRUSThe Great Sea (Mediterranean)Gulf of AqabaGulf of SuezPersian GulfNileEuphratesTigrisJordanSea of GalileeDead Sea1Jerusalem2Lachish3Riblah4Babylon5Susa6JerusalemN200 km

6 stops · roughly 2,751 km end to end

Click any stop to see a photograph of the site as it stands today.

Stop by stop

  1. 1

    Jerusalem

    2 Kings 25:8-10

    Besieged and burned; the temple stripped.

  2. 2

    Lachish

    Jeremiah 34:7
    43 km from Jerusalem

    Fallen in the same campaign; its letters found in the burnt gate.

  3. 3

    Riblah

    2 Kings 25:6
    358 km from Lachish

    Zedekiah sentenced before Nebuchadnezzar at the Syrian headquarters.

  4. 4

    Babylon

    2 Kings 24:14
    760 km from Riblah

    The deportations of 597, 587 and 582 BC.

  5. 5

    Susa

    Nehemiah 1:1
    362 km from Babylon

    The Persian winter capital; Nehemiah's post.

  6. 6

    Jerusalem

    Ezra 3; Nehemiah 6:15
    1,228 km from Susa

    The return, the second temple and the rebuilt wall.

What the record fixes

The Babylonian Chronicle records the capture of Jerusalem in 597 BC to the day. The Jehoiachin ration tablets from Babylon name the exiled king and his sons. The Cyrus Cylinder records the Persian policy of returning displaced peoples and their gods.