Beginning in 626 B.C.E., Jeremiah prophesied for over four decades, speaking to the people about the larger meaning of the fall of the Assyrian Empire, the rise of Babylonia, the Judean alliance with Egypt in response to Babylonian power, and the subsequent fall of Egypt and Judah to Babylon, resulting in the first exile of the Jews from their homeland (586 B.C.E.). Thought to be a traitor by both kings and commoners, Jeremiah urges the people to submit to Babylonian hegemony. When the Babylonians conquer Judah and exile her elite, Jeremiah is left behind to pacify the people. With the assassination of Gedaliah, the Babylonian-appointed governor of Judah, Jeremiah joins the rest of the Judean elite in a hasty departure to Egypt, fearing that they will be punished by Babylon for the death of Gedaliah. In Egypt, Jeremiah continues his work, attacking the Jews of Egypt for their idolatrous relationship to the Egyptian gods.
