The Babylonian Exile

Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion.

And he went up and down among the lions; he became a young lion, and he learned to catch the prey; he devoured men.

And he knew their palaces, and laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, because of the noise of his roaring.

Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces; and they spread their net over him; he was taken in their pit.

And they put him in a cage with hooks, and brought him to the king of Babylon; they brought him into strongholds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.

Thy mother was like a vine, in thy blood, planted by the waters: it was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.

And it had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and their stature was exalted among the thick boughs, and they were seen in their height with the multitude of their branches.

But it was plucked up in fury, it was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit: its strong rods were broken off and withered; the fire consumed them.

And now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land.

And fire is gone out of the rods of its branches, it hath devoured its fruit, so that there is in it no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.

And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifthmonth, the tenthdayof the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of Jehovah, and sat before me.

And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Is it to inquire of me that ye are come? As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, I will not be inquired of by you.

Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? Cause them to know the abominations of their fathers;

and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: In the day when I chose Israel, and sware unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I sware unto them, saying, I am Jehovah your God;

in that day I sware unto them, to bring them forth out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands.

And I said unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am Jehovah your God.

But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me; they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

But I wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, among which they were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.

So I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.

And I gave them my statutes, and showed them mine ordinances, which if a man do, he shall live in them.

Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am Jehovah that sanctifieth them.

But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they rejected mine ordinances, which if a man keep, he shall live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly profaned. Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.

But I wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, in whose sight I brought them out.

Moreover also I sware unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands;