great light. He who thus dies, though it be in the thick of battle,
and with his heart's blood pouring from an arrow-wound down on the
floor of the chariot, dies in peace, and into peace.



THE FALL OF JUDAH

'Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and
reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 12. And he did that which was evil
in the sight of the Lord his God, and humbled not himself before
Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the Lord. 13. And he
also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by
God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning
unto the Lord God of Israel. 14. Moreover all the chief of the
priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the
abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the Lord which
he had hallowed in Jerusalem. 15. And the Lord God of their fathers
sent to them by His messengers, rising up betimes, and sending;
because He had compassion on His people, and on His dwelling-place:
16. But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised His words, and
misused His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His
people, till there was no remedy. 17. Therefore he brought upon them
the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in
the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or
maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into
his hand. 18. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and
small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures
of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. 19.
And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem,