Jeremiah, thus brought into direct opposition to the false prophets, was exposed to their bitterest wrath.  But he was undaunted, although alone, and thus boldly addressed Hananiah, one of their leaders and himself a priest:  “Hear the words that I speak in your ears.  Not I alone, but all the prophets who have been before me, have prophesied long ago war, captivity, and pestilence, while you prophesy peace.”  On this, Hananiah snatched the ox-yoke from the neck of Jeremiah, and broke it, saying, “Thus saith Jehovah, Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar from the neck of all nations within two years.”  Jeremiah in reply said to this false prophet that he had broken a wooden yoke only to prepare an iron one for the people; for thus saith Jehovah:  “I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they shall serve the king of Babylon....  And further, hear this, O Hananiah!  Jehovah has not sent thee, but thou makest this people trust in a lie; therefore thou shalt die this very year, because thou hast spoken rebellion against Jehovah.”  In two months the lying prophet was dead.

Zedekiah, now awe-struck by the death of his counsellor, made up his mind to resist the Egyptian party and remain true to Nebuchadnezzar, and resolved to send an embassy to Babylon to vindicate himself from any suspicion of disloyalty; and further, he sought to win the favor of Jeremiah by a special gift to the Temple of a set of silver vessels to replace the golden ones that had been carried to Babylon.  Jeremiah entered into his views, and sent with the embassy a letter to the exiles to warn them of the hopelessness of their cause.  It was not well received, and created great excitement and indignation, since it seemed to exhort them to settle down contentedly in their slavery.  The words of Jeremiah were, however, indorsed by the prophet Ezekiel, and he addressed the exiles from the place where he lived in Chaldaea, confirming the destruction which Jeremiah prophesied to unwilling ears.  “Behold the day!  See, it comes!  The fierceness of Chaldaea has shot up into a rod to punish the wickedness of the people of Judah.  Nothing shall remain of them.  The time is come!  Forge the chains to lead off the people captive.  Destruction comes; calamity will follow calamity!”

Meanwhile, in spite of all these warnings from both Jeremiah and Ezekiel, things were passing at Jerusalem from bad to worse, until Nebuchadnezzar resolved on taking final vengeance on a rebellious city and people that refused to look on things as they were.  Never was there a more infatuated people.  One would suppose that a city already decimated, and its principal people already in bondage in Babylon, would not dare to resist the mightiest monarch who ever reigned in the East before the time of Cyrus.  But “whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad.”  Every preparation was made to defend the city.  The general of Nebuchadnezzar with a great force surrounded