2. What prophecy spoke of their return from captivity? “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.... And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the Lord: and _I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you_, saith the Lord; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.” Jer. 29:11-14. See also Jer. 23:3. NOTE.—The first dispersion of the Jews occurred B.C. 606-588, under Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. In B.C. 457, under Artaxerxes, the Persian king, large numbers of Jews returned to Palestine, their home land. 3. How had Moses spoken of another and greater dispersion? “The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, ... and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, ... and the Lord shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other.” Deut. 28:49-64. NOTE.—This calamity and dispersion occurred in 70 A.D., under Titus, the Roman general. Says the Popular and Critical Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. II, article “Jerusalem,” page 932: “Jerusalem seems to have been raised to this greatness as if to enhance the misery of its overthrow. So soon as the Jews had set the seal to their formal rejection of Christ, by putting Him to death, and invoking the responsibility of His blood upon the heads of themselves and of their children (Matt. 27:25), the city’s doom went forth. Titus, a young, brave, and competent Roman general, with an army of sixty thousand trained, victorious warriors, appeared before the city in April, 70 A.D., and the most disastrous siege of all history began.” See pages 313, 314. 4. Under what striking symbol was all this foretold? “Thus saith the Lord, Go and get _a potter’s earthen bottle_, and ... break the bottle ... and ... say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; _Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter’s vessel, that cannot be made whole again_.” Jer. 19:1-11. NOTE.—“No city on the globe has suffered more from war and sieges than Jerusalem.... Storming legions, battering-rams, and catapults have razed it again and again. And yet, the general outline of the city has always been preserved. Zion and Mt. Moriah remain in full view from Olivet, and there, on those hills, stretching away toward the west, city after city has come and gone in the passing ages.”—_Popular and Critical Bible Encyclopedia, Vol. II, article __“__Jerusalem__”__ pages 928, 929._ 5. How long was Jerusalem to be trodden down of the Gentiles?