s of uncompromising truth.

STUDY TOPICS

1. Look up the story of Jeremiah in the Bible dictionary.

2. Read Jeremiah 1. 1-9, for a taste of his style of writing.

3. One man sacrifices to a heathen god; another tries to bribe Jehovah
with a sacrifice as though he were _like_ the heathen gods:

_a._ Which is worse?
_b._ Which would the authors of Deuteronomy have considered worse?
_c._ Which would Jeremiah have considered worse?

CHAPTER XXI

KEEPING THE FAITH IN A STRANGE LAND

Twice within twelve years, first in B.C. 597, and again in B.C. 586,
the Babylonians took great companies of Hebrews as exiles from
Jerusalem to Babylon. Each time there must have been in the line of
march some twenty-five thousand men, women, and children--an army
which, marching eight abreast, would stretch at least five or six
miles.

These must have been sorrowful processions, especially the last of the
two. For months they had suffered the horrors of a besieged city. Then
had come the break in the walls, the screams of frightened women and
children, the heaps of corpses in the streets, and the black smoke and
red glare of burning buildings; then the hasty setting out on the long
road to Babylon. Some of them perhaps were able to buy asses to carry
the little children and a few of their belongings. But most of them
had to trudge along on foot, fathers and mothers carrying the babies,
and leaving behind them all their possessions except what could be
gathered into a towel or a blanket. For a month or six weeks they
tramped. If anyone fell sick, there was no time to take care of him.
He must drag along with the rest or fall by the wayside until he
either recovered or died.

THE SETTLEMENT IN BABYLONIA

When they reached the land of their captors they were not made slaves,
but were allowed to make their home together in settlements on land
set apart for them. In these colonies they probably worked as
tenant-farmers on the estates of Nebuchadrezzar's nobles. In the
prophetic book of Ezekiel, who was among these exiles, we read about
one of these Jewish colonies by the river, or canal, called Chebar (or
in Babylonian Kabaru), which means the Grand Canal.

=The attractions of Babylonian life.=--What the Babylonians hoped was
that these people would forget that they were Hebrews and become
Babylonians, just as immigrants from Europe become Americans. This is
exactly what happened in many cases. At first, of c