SO Jerusalem had been taken, and pulled down, and burnt; and King Zedekiah was dead, and all his sons, and most of the great people had been carried away to Babylon. Only the poorer people were left, that they might plough and sow, and gather the corn and the grapes, and keep the land from getting waste and full of weeds. The Prophet Jeremiah was left among them. There is one book in the Bible called the Book of Lamentation, for it is the sad verses that he made to mourn over the beautiful city and the glorious Temple, all burnt with fire because the people had been so sinful. [Illustration: JEREMIAH MOURNING OVER JERUSALEM.--Lam. of Jer. 1:1, 2.] Still Jeremiah told the people that were left, that if they would be patient and obey the king of Babylon, that after the seventy years of punishment the troubles should be over, and their friends should come back, and the Temple be built up again. But still, after all that had happened, these wilful Jews would have their own way. They said they were afraid of the king of Babylon there, and must go to Egypt to be safe; just as if they were not safer where God told them to stay, than they could be anywhere else. So off they went, and they carried Jeremiah by force with them, whether he would or no. But almost as soon as Jeremiah came there, God told him to take some great stones and put them into the clay of the brick kiln near Pharaoh's house, and say that upon those very stones the king of Babylon himself would set up his tent in a few years' time. And so it was. The Babylonians raised a great army, and came marching into Egypt, and there they burnt and destroyed, and killed and made slaves of the people they found there. Then these foolish Jews saw that if they had only stayed quietly at home the king of Babylon would have done them no harm. But now they had run away just where he was coming, and would hurt them most. That came of not trusting God's Word, but trying to run away from Him; for truly nothing is so foolish as to try to hide from God. QUESTIONS. 1. What had been done to Jerusalem? 2. Where were all the chief people gone? 3. Who was left? 4. Where did Jeremiah stay? 5. What sad book did Jeremiah write? 6. Why was he sorry? 7. What did he tell the Jews that were left? 8. Where did they want to go? 9. Why was it wrong to go to Egypt? 10. Why did they choose to go to Egypt? 11. What did God tell Jeremiah? 12. Where was the king of Babylon to set his throne? 13. Where would they have been safest? 14. Why? THIRD READING. "I will cause you to pass under the rod."--_Ezekiel 20:37._ GOD told His prophet Ezekiel to put the Israelites in mind of all that He had done for them, and how ungrateful they had been--always worshipping idols, and turning away from Him, though He had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and led them through the wilderness, and given them the beautiful land of Canaan. But they would not serve Him there, so punishment had come.