Before he ordered the expedition he endeavored by means of signs, in accordance with the superstition of his age, to ascertain the result of the attempt.  He shot an arrow from his bow, pointing to the west, and the arrow turned toward Jerusalem.  Then he shot again, pointing toward the east, and the arrow sped toward Jerusalem.  Then he shot once more, desiring to know in which direction lay the guilty city which should be blotted from the world, and for the third time his arrow pointed toward Jerusalem.

When the city had been captured, he marched with his princes and officers into the Temple, and called out mockingly to the God of Israel, “And art thou the great God before whom the world trembles, and we here in thy city and thy Temple!”

On one of the walls he found the mark of an arrow’s head, as though somebody had been killed or hit near by, and he asked, “Who was killed here?”

“Zachariah, the son of Yehoyadah, the high priest,” answered the people; “he rebuked us incessantly on account of our transgressions, and we tired of his words, and put him to death.”

The followers of Nebuchadnezzar massacred the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the people, old and young, women, and children who were attending school, even babies in the cradle.  The feast of blood at last shocked even the leader of the hostile heathens, who ordered a stay of this wholesale murder.  He then removed all the vessels of gold and silver from the Temple, and sent them by his ships, to Babel, after which he set the Temple on fire.

The high priest donned his robe and ephod, and saying, “Now that the Temple is destroyed, no priest is needed to officiate,” threw himself into the flames and was consumed.  When the other priests who were still alive witnessed this action, they took their harps and musical instruments and followed the example of the high priest.  Those of the people whom the soldiers had not killed were bound in iron chains, burdened with the spoils of the victors, and carried into captivity.  Jeremiah the prophet returned to Jerusalem and accompanied his unfortunate brethren, who went out almost naked.  When they reached a place called Bet Kuro, Jeremiah obtained better clothing for them.  And he spoke to Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans, and said, “Think not that of your own strength you were able to overcome the people chosen of the Lord; ’tis their iniquities which have condemned them to this sorrow.”

Thus the people journeyed on with crying and moaning until they reached the rivers of Babylon.  Then Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Sing, ye people,—­play for me,—­sing the songs ye were wont to sing before your great Lord in Jerusalem.”

In answer to this command, the Levites hung their harps upon the willow trees near the banks of the river, as it is written, “Upon the willows in her midst had we hung up our harps.”  Then they said, “If we had but performed the will of God and sung His praises devoutly, we should not have been delivered into thy hands.  Now, how can we sing before thee the prayers and hymns that belong only to the One Eternal God?” as it is said, “How should we sing the song of the Lord on the soil of the stranger?”