The Babylonian Exile

When she saw that she had waited in vain, that her hope was lost, she took another of her cubs and made him a young lion.

He prowled among the lions, and became a young lion. After learning to tear his prey, he devoured men.

He broke down their strongholds and devastated their cities. The land and everything in it shuddered at the sound of his roaring.

Then the nations set out against him from the provinces on every side. They spread their net over him; he was trapped in their pit.

With hooks they caged him and brought him to the king of Babylon. They brought him into captivity so that his roar was heard no longer on the mountains of Israel.

Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, planted by the water; it was fruitful and full of branches because of the abundant waters.

It had strong branches, fit for a ruler’s scepter. It towered high above the thick branches, conspicuous for its height and for its dense foliage.

But it was uprooted in fury, cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branches were stripped off and they withered; the fire consumed them.

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

Fire has gone out from its main branch and devoured its fruit; on it no strong branch remains fit for a ruler’s scepter.’ This is a lament and shall be used as a lament.”

In the seventh year, on the tenth day of the fifth month, some of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the LORD, and they sat down before me.

Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

“Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: Have you come to inquire of Me? As surely as I live, I will not be consulted by you, declares the Lord GOD.

Will you judge them, will you judge them, son of man? Confront them with the abominations of their fathers

and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: On the day I chose Israel, I swore an oath to the descendants of the house of Jacob and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt. With an uplifted hand I said to them, ‘I am the LORD your God.’

On that day I swore to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands.

And I said to them: ‘Each of you must throw away the abominations before his eyes, and you must not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.’

But they rebelled against Me and refused to listen. None of them cast away the abominations before their eyes, and they did not forsake the idols of Egypt. So I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and vent My anger against them in the land of Egypt.

But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the eyes of the nations among whom they were living, in whose sight I had revealed Myself to Israel by bringing them out of the land of Egypt.

So I brought them out of the land of Egypt and led them into the wilderness.

And I gave them My statutes and made known to them My ordinances—for the man who does these things will live by them.

I also gave them My Sabbaths as a sign between us, so that they would know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them.

Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not follow My statutes and they rejected My ordinances—though the man who does these things will live by them—and they utterly profaned My Sabbaths. Then I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and put an end to them in the wilderness.

But I acted for the sake of My name, so that it would not be profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

Moreover, with an uplifted hand I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land that I had given them—a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands—