ON IN THE LAND

(Jerusalem is taken and Jeremiah is kindly treated by the victors. The
people who remain in the land, now a royal colony, take courage, but
the assassination of the governor throws everything into confusion.)

And it came to pass when Jerusalem was taken, in the ninth year of
Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and besieged it; in the
eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the ninth day of the
month, a breach was made in the walls of the city. Then all the
princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate.

And it came to pass that when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the
men of war saw them, then they fled, and went forth out of the city by
night, by the way of the king's garden, by the gate between the two
walls. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them, and overtook
Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho: and when they had taken him, they
brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Riblah in the land
of Hamath, and he gave judgment upon him.

Then the king of Babylon slew the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before
his eyes: also the king of Babylon slew all the nobles of Judah.
Moreover he put out Zedekiah's eyes, and bound him in fetters, to
carry him to Babylon.

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[Illustration]
ANATHOTH, THE HOME OF JEREMIAH.
From a photograph taken by Prof. D. G. Lyon, and used by his kind
permission.
[End illustration]

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And the Chaldeans burned the king's house, and the houses of the
people, with fire, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.

Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive into
Babylon the remainder of the people that stayed in the city, the
deserters also, that came to him, and the remainder of the people that
stayed.

But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left of the poor of the
people, which had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them
vineyards and fields at the same time.

Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to
Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying, "Take him, and look well
to him, and do him no harm; but do unto him even as he shall say unto
thee."

So the king's princes sent, and took Jeremiah out of the court of the
guard, and committed him to Gedaliah the royal governor, commanding
that he should carry him home: so he dwelt among the people.

Now the word of the Lord ca