The Bible Lore Podcast

The saga of Cyrus continues while the Exile ends. But what does Exile really mean?
Today, I explore Second Isaiah, Ezekiel, and a little bit of Ezra. What do these wildly different works say about the end of the Exile? And how does that line up with what archaeology tells us about late 6th century Jerusalem?
Join the Patreon:
http://patreon.com/biblelorepodcast
Bibliography: 
Hallo & Younger - 'The Context of Scripture, Vols. 1-3';  
Radner, Moeller, et al - 'The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East Vol. 5';  
Matt Waters - 'King of the World';  
Herodotus, Sélincourt (transl.) - 'The Histories';  
Joseph Blenkinsopp - 'Isaiah 40-55 (Anchor Yale)'; 
Robert Alter - 'The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary';  
Christian Frevel - 'History of Ancient Israel';  
Berlin, Brettler, et al - 'The Jewish Study Bible, Second Edition';  
Daniel McClellan - 'YHWH's Divine Images';  
Michael Dick (ed.) - 'Born in Heaven, Made on Earth';  
Levine, Brettler, et al - 'The Jewish Annotated New Testament';  
Bob Becking - 'We All Returned As One!';  
Robert J. Miller - 'Helping Jesus Fulfill Prophecy';  
https://nypost.com/2025/10/13/world-news/im-here-to-thank-america-israel-flooded-with-us-adoration/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh11CuVUZPY

Apologies for neglecting the standard feed! On the other hand, that means you'll be getting two episodes this week and another in two weeks! And even better, despite Chris saying he can't announce anything, now he can! Check out Chunks, a new comedy anthology that Chris put together and produced along with fellow Chapo co-host Amber Frost!
https://patreon.com/chunkstv
Anyway, onto episode info:
It's Bible at the Movies time and boy is today's movie a stinker! Ridley Scott what are you doing??? At the very least, I had a great time discussing this turd with returning guest Chris Wade. Hooray!

Apologies to my Spotify listeners, I thought I had addressed an issue to their satisfaction but they removed the episode anyway. Here is a reupload of episode 31.
This one's all about Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon, an oddball devotee of the moon god Sin whose reign ends up becoming the basis for some of Daniel's most infamous stories.
Support the show on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/BibleLorePodcast
Buy Between Two Rivers by Moudhy Al-Rashid:
https://bookshop.org/p/books/between-two-rivers-ancient-mesopotamia-and-the-birth-of-history-moudhy-al-rashid/9a6c9713e7d1cb21
Keyvan Golsorkhi on Iran:  
https://www.thenation.com/article/world/iran-diaspora-war-trump-israel/
Data Over Dogma on seeing the face of God:  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohh4Huzfn2U
Bibliography:  
Paul-Alain Beaulieu - 'Nabonidus the Mad King';  
Paul-Alain Beaulieu - 'Reign of Nabonidus, King of Babylon';  
Moudhy Al-Rashi - 'Between Two Rivers';  
John Collins - 'Daniel';  
Hallo & Younger - 'The Context of Scripture Vol 1-3';  
Marc van de Mieroop - 'A History of the Ancient Near East';  
Radner, Moeller, Potts, et al - 'The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East, Volume V';  
Berlin, Brettler, et al - 'The Jewish Study Bible, Second Edition';  
Robert Alter - 'The Hebrew Bible: A Translation with Commentary';  
Pietersma, Wright - 'A New English Translation of the Septuagint';

Cyrus the Great arrives, Nabonidus falls, and several people eat human meat as we sort through Herodotus to tell the story of the rise of Persia in the mid-6th century BCE.
Support the show by joining the Patreon:
https://patreon.com/biblelorepodcast
Helpful map:
https://www.worldhistory.org/image/265/empire-of-cyrus-the-great/
Check out the episode of Super Structure I was featured in:
https://www.patreon.com/SuperStructure/posts/late-great-earth-159135809
Bibliography:
https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/cyaxares-gk/  
https://www.livius.org/sources/content/nabonidus-cylinder-from-sippar/  
Paul-Alain Beaulieu - 'Reign of Nabonidus';  
Matt Waters - 'King of the World';  
Herodotus, Sélincourt (trnsl.) - 'The Histories';  
C.J. Gadd - 'The Fall of Nineveh: The Newly Discovered Babylonian Chronicle';  
M. David Litwa - 'How the Gospels Became History';

David M. Perry stops by the show to promote his new book, The Public Scholar: A Practical Handbook, a book that is good enough that you'll forget you're reading a manual on how to pitch op-eds and trade volumes. Because David has a wide knowledge base, I used his book as a platform to discuss a variety of subjects, from "Who are your guys?" for medieval popes to how changes in disability policy could impact millions of Americans today to even a little discussion of what the Bible meant to people before the advent of the printing press. This one's good, gang!
Support the show on Patreon:  
https://www.patreon.com/BibleLorePodcast
Buy the book:  
https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/54219/public-scholar
Read David's recent article on disability policy:  
https://www.ms.now/opinion/social-security-disability-payments-trump-new-rule