Babylon's army attacks Jerusalem
15 The Lord sent his servants many times to warn his people. He wanted to be kind to them. He wanted to keep his temple safe. 16 But they laughed at the men that God sent to them. They did not think that his messages were important. They insulted his prophets. Finally, the Lord became very angry with his people. Nothing could stop him from punishing them.
17 Then the Lord sent the king of Babylon to attack them. His soldiers killed Jerusalem's young men in the temple, where they thought that they would be safe. They were not kind to anybody, the young men or women, or even the very old people. God put all the people of Jerusalem under the king of Babylon's power.
36:17Jeremiah 39:1-14 describes how Babylon's army took Jerusalem for themselves. In 587 BC, the soldiers from Babylon broke down the walls of the city. 18 The king took away to Babylon all the things that were in God's temple. He took everything, big things and small things. He took all the valuable things that were in the Lord's temple. He also took the valuable things of the king and his officers. He took them all away to Babylon. 19 Nebuchadnezzar's men destroyed the Lord's temple with fire. They knocked down the walls around Jerusalem. They burned all the important buildings. They destroyed all the valuable things in the city.
20 Nebuchadnezzar took away to Babylon all the people in Jerusalem who were still alive. They worked as slaves for him and for his sons until the kingdom of Persia became powerful. 21 In this way, the Lord's message that his prophet Jeremiah had spoken became true. The land of Judah was empty for 70 years. It was finally able to rest, like the rest on a Sabbath day.
36:21Farmers should have allowed their land to rest every seven years. See Leviticus 25:1-7. If they did not do that, God had promised to send the people away from their land. See Leviticus 26:33-35. 