84 to attack Judah. He took most of the other cities of the land, and then besieged Jerusalem. He pitched the tents of his large army all around it, to prevent the inhabitants from leaving the city in order to obtain provisions and assistance, or to escape. Zedekiah, much alarmed, now sent for the prophet Jeremiah, and inquired what he should do. Jeremiah instantly told him to surrender the city, for God, he declared, had determined to give it up to Nebuchad nezzar. Zedekiah would not do this, but continued to defend the city for a year, although the inhabitants were shut up within it, and could obtain no provisions from without. At the end of the year there was no food left in Jerusalem; the people were in danger of starving, and were driven even to eat the dead bodies of their friends !"At last, in the heat of summer, the people were so much weakened by hunger, that they could no longer defend the wall. The Chaldeans, with their battering rams, and other engines, soon made large openings in them, and entered the city. ТҺе princes and great men of Nebuchadnezzar took their seats in the places
