The confusion
that ensued was indescribable. Officers ran to and fro in wild haste.
Wives and daughters wailed, lamented, and clung to their husbands and
fathers in the utmost dismay. Hilarity and mirth were turned into sorrow
and bitter lamentations. Those proud and lofty arches that had so lately
rung to the sound of the merry song and boisterous laugh, now answered to
the distracted cry of the fair daughters of Judah. Thus, in "confusion
worse confounded," broke up the great festival of the last anniversary of
the reign of Jehoiakim, King of Judah.
The dawn of day presented to the inhabitants of Jerusalem their true and
lamentable condition. A portion of the Chaldean army was already encamped
on the plains before the city, and nearby the remaining legions were on a
rapid march to the same spot. This sudden appearance of the forces of
Nebuchadnezzar before the walls of Jerusalem was owing to the King of
Judah's refusing to pay the tribute money as agreed on another occasion.
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