When the time was come when it was ordained that Jerusalem should be laid waste by the king of the Chaldeans, God spake to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “Depart out of this city, for I am about to destroy it for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.”  But Jeremiah answered, “Suffer me, I beseech thee, Lord, to speak a word.”  And He said, “Say on.”  And Jeremiah said, “Wilt Thou indeed deliver Thy chosen city into the hand of the Chaldeans, that their king may boast himself against it and say, ’I have prevailed against the Holy City of God’?  Not so, Lord; but if it be Thy will to destroy it, overthrow it rather with Thine own hand.”  And He said, “Neither the king nor his power shall prevail to destroy it, unless I first open the gates thereof to him.  Come therefore at the sixth hour of the night to the city wall, thou and Baruch the scribe, and I will show you what I will do.”  Jeremiah therefore rent his clothes and put ashes upon his head, and went and found Baruch in the temple; and when Baruch saw him he was dismayed, and cried out, “What is the matter?” And when Jeremiah had told him that which was proposed concerning the city, he also rent his clothes; and they remained both of them in the holy place all that day weeping.

But at the sixth hour of the night they went out and walked upon the city wall.  And suddenly they heard the sound of a trumpet in heaven, and there came down angels bearing torches of fire in their hands, and alighted upon the four corners of the wall of the city.  Then Jeremiah and Baruch perceived that the desolation of Jerusalem was indeed at hand; and Jeremiah cried out to the angels, “I beseech you, destroy not the city until I have spoken a word to the Most High.”  So the angels stayed their hand; and Jeremiah said, “Lord, now we know of a truth that the city will be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans; tell us, therefore, what wilt Thou that we shall do with the holy vessels of the temple?” And he answered, “Commit them to the earth, and say unto it, ’Hear, O earth, the voice of Him that separated thee from among the waters, and sealed thee with seven seals unto seven ages, even until the time wherein thou shalt be renewed in beauty:  keep these vessels of the sanctuary until the coming of the Beloved.’” And Jeremiah continued and said, “I beseech Thee, show me what I shall do for Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, because he showed me great kindness and delivered me out of the pit wherein Zedekiah cast me; and I would not have him see the desolation of the city, for it would grieve him to the heart.”  The Lord said, “Send him to the vineyard of Agrippa which is on the other side of the hill, and I will shelter him until I bring back the people to the city.  And as for thee, go thou with thy people to Babylon, and remain there to comfort them until they return hither.  And let Baruch abide here until I send him word.”