crimes of their princes, which they committed in the land of Judah and in
the streets of Jerusalem? They are not humbled even to this day, neither
have they feared nor walked in my law nor in my statutes that I set before
you and before your fathers.'

[Sidenote: Jer. 44:11-13, 22]
'Therefore thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: "Behold, I set
my face against you for evil to cut off the remnant of Judah in the land
of Egypt, and they shall fall by the sword and by famine; they shall
die, small and great, and they shall be an object of execration, of
astonishment, of cursing, and of reproach. For I will punish those who
dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by
famine, and by pestilence, so that none of the remnant of Judah, who have
gone into the land of Egypt to reside there, shall escape or be left to
return to the land of Judah, to which they have a desire to return; for
none shall return except as fugitives. And they who escape the sword shall
return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number; and all
the remnant of Judah, who have gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn
there shall know whose word shall be confirmed, mine or theirs."'

I. The Significance of the Destruction of the Hebrew State. The
destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. resulted in a mighty Transformation
of the life and thought of Israel. It marked the final Overthrow of the
old Hebrew kingdoms, and the gradual rise of that new and important factor
in human history known as Judaism. For over three centuries the Jews who
survived the great catastrophe were helpless under the rule of the great
world powers which in succession conquered southwestern Asia. For the
great majority of the Jewish race it represented the beginning of that
long exile which has continued until the present. Scattered from the
desert of Sahara to the distant land of China, and from the Black Sea to