49. In addition, the leaders of the people and even the chief priests did more lawless and godless things than all the corrupt heathen; they defiled the Temple of the Lord, which he had made holy.
50. The God of their ancestors had continued to send prophets to call them back from their sins, because he wanted to spare them and their Temple.
51. But when the Lord spoke through his prophets, the people ridiculed them and laughed.
52. At last the Lord became so angry with his people and their depraved ways that he ordered the kings of Babylonia to attack them.
53. The Babylonians killed the young men of Judah all round the Temple and did not spare anyone, young or old, man or woman. The Lord handed them all over to their enemies.
54. The Babylonians carried off all the sacred utensils from the Temple, the treasure chests, and the wealth of the king; they took everything away to Babylon, leaving nothing behind.
55. They burnt down the Temple, broke down the city wall, set fire to its towers,
56. and completely destroyed all its beauty. Nebuchadnezzar forced all the survivors to be led away to Babylon,
57. where they served him and his descendants as slaves until the rise of the Persian Empire. And so what the Lord had foretold through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
58. “The land will lie desolate for seventy years to make up for the Sabbath rest that has not been observed.”