SOME ISRAELITES WERE CAPTIVES. Some of the Israelites were captives already in the land of the king of Babylon. Ezekiel was one of them; and just four years after he spoke this prophecy, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, came up against Jerusalem, and took it once more, and made King Zedekiah prisoner as he was trying to flee away. Zedekiah's sons were put to death before his eyes; and after that his eyes were put out, and he was carried in chains to Babylon, and there slain. Beautiful Jerusalem was set on fire, the walls were thrown down, and all the gold and silver in the Temple was carried off to Babylon; and the Jews themselves were made to go there too, and live as prisoners there. This was the way God punished them to make them sorry for their sins; and still He gave them hope that when seventy years were over, they should come back, and build up their city; and after that they would always remember their old fault, and never turn to worship false gods again. So God was merciful even in His anger, and sent their sorrow to make them know Him and serve Him better. QUESTIONS. 1. Where had God led the Israelites from? 2. What beautiful place had He given them? 3. What were they to do for Him? 4. Did they serve Him? 5. What did they worship? 6. How did He punish them? 7. What young king had they lost already? 8. Who was the king that came up against Jerusalem? 9. What did Nebuchadnezzar do to Jerusalem? 10. Who was the king Nebuchadnezzar took? 11. What was done to king Zedekiah? 12. What was done to the city? 13. What was done to the people? 14. Were they ever to come back again? 15. How soon were they to come back? 16. What did they learn by their troubles? [Illustration: THE BREASTPLATE.] Thirty-sixth Sunday. _THE JEWS AT BABYLON._ FIRST READING. "By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion."--_Psalm 137:1._ [Illustration] WHEN the Jews came to Babylon, some were made to live in the city, where they worked at trades, and kept shops. Others lived in the country and worked in the fields. These were not like the fields at home. The goodly land at home was full of hills and valleys, with sloping pastures for the flocks, and vineyards on the sides of the hills; but the land round Babylon was quite flat, with broad rivers flowing slowly and lazily through the meadows, with weeping willows upon their banks. While Jerusalem was being besieged, Ezekiel, at Babylon, drew the picture of the town on a tile, and shut it in with a wall, and lay watching it, and weighing out a little bit of bad bread for himself to eat every day, that the other Jews who were with him might know what was going on among their brethren at Jerusalem, as God told him.