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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: she
was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters. And she
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 she was plucked
up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried
up her fruit: her strong rods were broken off and withered; the fire
consumed them. And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and
thirsty land. And fire is gone out of the rods of her branches, it
hath {346} devoured her fruit, so that there is in her no strong rod
to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a
lamentation."

II

THE DOOM OF TYRE

(The description of Tyre is particularly valuable, because it gives
such a vivid picture of the commercial activity of a great city in
ancient times.)

And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the
month, that the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, "Son of man,
because that Tyre hath said against Jerusalem, 'Aha, she is broken
that was the gate of the peoples; she is turned unto me: I shall be
replenished, now that she is laid waste:' therefore thus saith the
Lord God: Behold, I am against thee, O Tyre, and will cause many
nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come
up. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her
towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare
rock. She shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of
the sea; for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God: and she shall
become a spoil to the nations. And her daughters which are in the
field shall be slain with the sword: and they shall know that I am the
Lord." For thus saith the Lord God: "Behold, I will bring upon Tyre
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, from the north, with
horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and a company, and much
people. He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the {347} field:
and he shall make forts against thee, and cast up a mount against
thee, and raise up the buckler against thee. And he shall set his
battering engines against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break
down thy towers. By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust
shall cover thee: t