ProlepsisOpen in the graph →

Prophecy

The gathering of the scattered “from all the countries” (Deuteronomy 30:3-5, Ezekiel 36:24 and 37:21, Amos 9:14-15, Isaiah 11:11-12, Jeremiah 16:14-15)

New immigrants arriving at the port of Haifa aboard the Negbah, between 1948 and 1951: photo of the event to which some readers link this text.
Photo of the event New immigrants arriving at the port of Haifa aboard the Negbah, between 1948 and 1951: photo of the event to which some readers link this text. — Unknown author (PikiWiki – Israel Internet Association), Wikimedia Commons · Domaine public

◆ Written before: a dated manuscript proves it

Written c. 760–570 BC according to tradition; 600–400 BC according to historians. Event: 1882–2024 AD.

See the full entry: sources, objections, answers

In short

The announcement. Several books of the Bible, from Deuteronomy to the prophets Amos (around 760 BC), Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel (around 593-571 BC), announce that God will gather his scattered people “from all the countries” and bring them back to their land.

What happened. Waves of Jewish immigration begin in 1882, and the State of Israel, proclaimed in 1948, declares itself open to the “ingathering of the exiles”. The share of the world's Jews living in Israel rises from about 4.5% in 1945 to 45.45% in 2024. The return remains incomplete: about 55% still live elsewhere.

What is still debated. the Bible itself presents the return from Babylon, in the 6th century BC, as the fulfillment, and those who carried out the modern return knew these texts and drew inspiration from them.

Why it is striking

The return from Babylon came from a single region; today’s comes from every continent. Seeing the oracles in it remains a connection put forward by some readers: a first return took place in the 6th century BC, and the modern actors knew these texts.

Main objection (in French for now)

Le sens premier est le retour de l’exil babylonien, que la Bible présente elle-même comme l’accomplissement (Jr 29:10 ; Esd 1:1-3). Transférer ces oracles sur le XXe siècle est une relecture.

The text (World English Bible)

that then the LORD your God will release you from captivity, have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you back. The LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you will possess it. He will do you good, and increase your numbers more than your fathers.

Deut 30:3-5

“‘“For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land.

Ezek 36:24

Say to them, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land. I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel. One king will be king to them all. They will no longer be two nations. They won’t be divided into two kingdoms any more at all.

Ezek 37:21-22

Sources