Bible passage: Deuteronomy 28:65-67
Prophet: Moses
Written: As early as 1400 BC
In Deuteronomy 28:65-67, Moses prophesied that the people of Israel would be scattered among nations and persecuted. They were exiled and scattered from their homeland in ancient times by the Assyrians, Babylonians and Romans.
During those times, the people scattered to communities throughout the Mediterranean world, in north Africa, Europe and western Asia.
Later in history, Jews were often expelled from various areas and countries and forced to relocate elsewhere, having the effect of widening the diaspora of the community.
Jacob Leschinsky, in writing about the Jewish dispersion, offers some examples:
"For 1,900 years from the destruction of the Second Temple (70 C.E.) to the establishment of the modern State of Israel (1948), the Jewish people have wandered literally around the world. This wandering was usually precipitated by intolerable spiritual and/or physical persecution. The scope of the Jews' nineteen hundred year exile is reflected in the lands from which they were, en masse, expelled.
"For example, in the third century (CE) they were expelled from Carthage (North Africa), in the fifth century from Alexandria (Egypt), in the sixth from provinces in France, and in the seventh from the Visigothic Empire. In the ninth century they were expelled from Italy, in the eleventh from Mayence (Germany), in the twelfth from France, the thirteenth from England, the fourteenth from France, Switzerland, Hungary, Germany, and in the fifteenth from Austria, Spain, Lithuania, Portugal, and Germany.
"In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Jewish populations were expelled from Bohemia, Austria, Papal States, the Netherlands, the Ukraine, Lithuania, and Oran (North Africa). In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries they were expelled from Russia, Warsaw (Poland), and Galatz (Romania). In the twentieth century all Jews living in Nazi controlled lands were relocated, and from 1948 to 1952 hundreds of thousands of Jews managed to escape from the lands of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq." - Jacob Leschinsky, The Jewish Dispersion.
- Research and commentary is based on the book 100 Fulfilled Bible Prophecies. © Ray Konig and AboutBibleProphecy.com.
Here is Deuteronomy 28:64-67 (NIV):
64 Then the Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods-gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known. 65 Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. 66 You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. 67 In the morning you will say, "If only it were evening!" and in the evening, "If only it were morning!"-because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see.