=6. What became of a large part= of the Jewish people just before these times is plain from the references to those who had fled during the various wars of the captivities, or who might have been taken captive or retired to other nations than the Assyrian, 2 Kings 25:4, 22, 26; 2 Chron. 28:17, 18; Jer. 29:4; 41:10. So that we may reasonably suppose that large numbers, especially from the ten tribes of Israel, either remained in Palestine after the captivity, or departed to the east of the Jordan or to Egypt, and perhaps to other countries. A considerable number of the people of Judah who were left after the beginning of the captivity went down as we have said, page 166, into Egypt, taking the prophet Jeremiah with them;[107] but all probably perished there, as foretold by that prophet, Jer. 42:19‒22. CONDITION OF JERUSALEM AT THE RETURN. =7. Jerusalem was in ruins.= Its walls were broken down, and its palaces and Temple and all the chief houses and monuments of every description were levelled and burned so far as was possible. Judging from the allusions to the destroyed city which are occasionally found in Jewish writers, and from the accounts of similar destructions by Assyrian and Babylonish kings, it is probable that the city was more utterly ruined and made more uninhabitable than ever before or since. In the time of Amaziah, king of Judah, B. C. 826, the wall for about 600 feet was broken down by Jehoash, king of Israel, 2 Kings 14:13, but the destruction by Nebuchadnezzar’s “captain of the guard” was far more terrible, since it extended to the entire city, as well as to the walls, and probably to the smallest dwellings. THE HISTORY AFTER THE RETURN. =8. The worship at Jerusalem= soon became prominently important throughout the land. The strict observance of the Law and a deep hatred of idolatry seem fully to have occupied the minds of the people, and the feast of the Passover was observed at Jerusalem with the other feasts, in strict accordance with the Law. The sacrifices were made and burnt-offerings offered before the foundations of the Temple were laid, only the altar having been set up upon the former site and in the open air. =9. Very few, if any, of those Jews= who had been scattered abroad came from the remnants of the ten tribes around the distant places of northern Assyria and from the other regions; but a new immigration, under Ezra, came from Babylon bringing in about 6,000 more.[108] This last immigration was not until fifty-eight years after the second Temple had been built under Zerub´babel,[109] who went out with the Jews from Babylon under the edict of Cyrus, at the first departure of the captives, B. C. 588.