Lamentations 1 Study Notes: Jerusalem Weeps Alone
Jerusalem is pictured as a lonely widow reduced to slavery, with no one to console her after her fall. The poet and the city herself admit that the LORD sent this sorrow as punishment for her sins, while she calls on passersby to see her pain and asks God to judge her enemies.
General
According to 1:5, what reason is given for the grief the LORD brought on Jerusalem?
Answer: Because of the great number of her sins
The poet does not treat the disaster as bad luck or as the victory of stronger gods. Judah has been carried off into exile (1:3), Jerusalem’s enemies now rule over her and live at ease, and the reason is given directly: the LORD Himself afflicted her on account of her many sins (1:5). Verse 8 repeats the point: Jerusalem sinned greatly, and that is why she became an object of contempt. This is what Moses had warned in the covenant, the binding agreement between God and Israel: if Israel would not obey, the LORD would scatter them among the nations (Deuteronomy 28:64). Jeremiah gave the same reason for the disaster, that the people’s fathers had forsaken the LORD to serve other gods (Jeremiah 16:10-11). God’s judgment was just, not random.
- Lamentations 1:5 (BSB)“Her foes have become her masters; her enemies are at ease. For the LORD has brought her grief because of her many transgressions. Her children have gone away as captives before the enemy.”Jerusalem’s foes rule over her because the LORD afflicted her for her many sins.
- Lamentations 1:8 (BSB)“Jerusalem has sinned greatly; therefore she has become an object of scorn. All who honored her now despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns away.”Her great sin is named as the reason she became an object of contempt.
- Deuteronomy 28:64 (BSB)“Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.”Moses warned that disobedience would end in the LORD scattering Israel among the nations.
- Jeremiah 16:10-11 (BSB)“When you tell these people all these things, they will ask you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’ Then you are to answer them: ‘It is because your fathers have forsaken Me, declares the LORD, and followed other gods, and served and worshiped them. They abandoned Me and did not keep My instruction.”Jeremiah was told to answer the question of why disaster came by pointing to the fathers’ abandonment of the LORD for other gods.
- Daniel 9:7 (BSB)“To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, and all Israel near and far, in all the countries to which You have driven us because of our unfaithfulness to You.”Daniel confesses that God is righteous and that Israel’s scattering came from her own unfaithfulness.
Theological
What cause does 1:5 assign to Jerusalem’s affliction?
Answer: Because of the great number of her sins
The text attributes the catastrophe neither to chance nor to the superiority of foreign gods. Judah’s exile (1:3) and the ascendancy of Jerusalem’s foes are explained by the LORD’s own act of affliction on account of the multitude of her transgressions (1:5), and 1:8 reiterates that her grievous sin made her an object of contempt. This is the outworking of the covenant sanctions, which threatened dispersion among the nations for disobedience (Deuteronomy 28:64), and it matches Jeremiah’s explanation of the disaster as the fruit of apostasy (Jeremiah 16:10-11). Daniel’s later confession assigns righteousness to God and shame to Israel for the same reason (Daniel 9:7). The judgment is retributive and just.
- Lamentations 1:5 (BSB)“Her foes have become her masters; her enemies are at ease. For the LORD has brought her grief because of her many transgressions. Her children have gone away as captives before the enemy.”Jerusalem’s foes rule over her because the LORD afflicted her for her many sins.
- Lamentations 1:8 (BSB)“Jerusalem has sinned greatly; therefore she has become an object of scorn. All who honored her now despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns away.”Her great sin is named as the reason she became an object of contempt.
- Deuteronomy 28:64 (BSB)“Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.”Moses warned that disobedience would end in the LORD scattering Israel among the nations.
- Jeremiah 16:10-11 (BSB)“When you tell these people all these things, they will ask you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?’ Then you are to answer them: ‘It is because your fathers have forsaken Me, declares the LORD, and followed other gods, and served and worshiped them. They abandoned Me and did not keep My instruction.”Jeremiah was told to answer the question of why disaster came by pointing to the fathers’ abandonment of the LORD for other gods.
- Daniel 9:7 (BSB)“To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, and all Israel near and far, in all the countries to which You have driven us because of our unfaithfulness to You.”Daniel confesses that God is righteous and that Israel’s scattering came from her own unfaithfulness.
General
In 1:12 Jerusalem calls out to people passing by. What does she ask them?
Answer: Whether any grief compares to what the LORD laid on her
Jerusalem now speaks for herself. She asks whether her suffering means nothing to those walking past, and urges them to look and see whether any pain is like hers (1:12). She names its source: the LORD made her suffer when His fierce anger burned. The next verse continues in the same vein: He sent fire into her bones, caught her feet in a net, and left her faint (1:13). Jeremiah had foretold that people passing by the ruined land would be horrified and wag their heads in scorn (Jeremiah 18:16; 19:8). Many Christians have also seen in this cry a picture of the sufferings of Christ.
- Lamentations 1:12 (BSB)“Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see! Is there any sorrow like mine, which was inflicted on me, which the LORD made me suffer on the day of His fierce anger?”Zion calls on passersby to see whether any sorrow matches the one the LORD brought on her in His anger.
- Lamentations 1:13 (BSB)“He sent fire from on high, and it overpowered my bones. He spread a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me desolate, faint all the day long.”She describes the LORD’s fire, net and desolation as the source of her pain.
- Jeremiah 18:16 (BSB)“They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads.”Jeremiah foretold that people passing the ruined land would be appalled at it.
- Jeremiah 19:8 (BSB)“I will make this city a desolation and an object of scorn. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff at all her wounds.”The LORD said that those passing the devastated city would scoff at her wounds.
Theological
What is the substance of Zion’s appeal to passersby in 1:12?
Answer: Whether any grief compares to what the LORD laid on her
Personified Jerusalem addresses the onlookers directly, asking whether her plight is nothing to them and whether any sorrow equals the one the LORD inflicted when His wrath burned hot (1:12). The following verse elaborates the divine agency with images of fire, a net and desolation (1:13). The scene fulfills Jeremiah’s warnings that passersby would be appalled and scoff at the city’s wounds (Jeremiah 18:16; 19:8). Many Christians have also seen in this cry an image of the sufferings of Christ.
- Lamentations 1:12 (BSB)“Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see! Is there any sorrow like mine, which was inflicted on me, which the LORD made me suffer on the day of His fierce anger?”Zion calls on passersby to see whether any sorrow matches the one the LORD brought on her in His anger.
- Lamentations 1:13 (BSB)“He sent fire from on high, and it overpowered my bones. He spread a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me desolate, faint all the day long.”She describes the LORD’s fire, net and desolation as the source of her pain.
- Jeremiah 18:16 (BSB)“They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads.”Jeremiah foretold that people passing the ruined land would be appalled at it.
- Jeremiah 19:8 (BSB)“I will make this city a desolation and an object of scorn. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff at all her wounds.”The LORD said that those passing the devastated city would scoff at her wounds.
General
True or False: In 1:18 Jerusalem complains that the LORD has treated her unfairly.
Answer: False
This is false. Even in her pain, Jerusalem declares that the LORD is in the right and that she is the one who rebelled against His word (1:18). She calls the nations to look on her suffering, but she does not accuse God of injustice. She admits she has been deeply rebellious (1:20) and asks God to bring her enemies’ wickedness before Him and treat them as He has treated her for her own sins (1:21-22). Later believers confessed the same truth. Daniel prayed that righteousness belongs to the Lord while shame belongs to His people (Daniel 9:7), and after the return from exile the people owned that God was just in everything that came on them, because He had kept faith while they had done evil (Nehemiah 9:33). David likewise owned that God is in the right when He judges (Psalm 51:4).
- Lamentations 1:18 (BSB)“The LORD is righteous, yet I rebelled against His command. Listen, all you people; look upon my suffering. My young men and maidens have gone into captivity.”Zion affirms the LORD’s righteousness and admits her own rebellion against His word.
- Lamentations 1:20 (BSB)“See, O LORD, how distressed I am! I am churning within; my heart is pounding within me, for I have been most rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is death.”She confesses that she has been deeply rebellious.
- Nehemiah 9:33 (BSB)“You are just in all that has befallen us, because You have acted faithfully, while we have acted wickedly.”After the exile the people confessed that God had acted justly in everything that had befallen them.
- Daniel 9:7 (BSB)“To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, and all Israel near and far, in all the countries to which You have driven us because of our unfaithfulness to You.”Daniel ascribes righteousness to the Lord and shame to the people for their unfaithfulness.
- Psalm 51:4 (BSB)“Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge.”David confesses that God is proved right and blameless when He judges sin.
Theological
True or False: In 1:18 Zion contests the justice of the LORD’s dealings with her.
Answer: False
This is false. Zion confesses that the LORD is in the right, and the fault lies in her own rebellion against His command (1:18). She invites the nations to behold her suffering but never impugns God’s justice, confessing that she has been grievously rebellious (1:20) and asking that her enemies be judged by the same standard by which she has been judged (1:21-22). The later confessions of Daniel and of the returned community echo this vindication of God (Daniel 9:7; Nehemiah 9:33), as does David’s acknowledgment that God is justified when He judges (Psalm 51:4).
- Lamentations 1:18 (BSB)“The LORD is righteous, yet I rebelled against His command. Listen, all you people; look upon my suffering. My young men and maidens have gone into captivity.”Zion affirms the LORD’s righteousness and admits her own rebellion against His word.
- Lamentations 1:20 (BSB)“See, O LORD, how distressed I am! I am churning within; my heart is pounding within me, for I have been most rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is death.”She confesses that she has been deeply rebellious.
- Nehemiah 9:33 (BSB)“You are just in all that has befallen us, because You have acted faithfully, while we have acted wickedly.”After the exile the people confessed that God had acted justly in everything that had befallen them.
- Daniel 9:7 (BSB)“To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, and all Israel near and far, in all the countries to which You have driven us because of our unfaithfulness to You.”Daniel ascribes righteousness to the Lord and shame to the people for their unfaithfulness.
- Psalm 51:4 (BSB)“Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge.”David confesses that God is proved right and blameless when He judges sin.
General
True or False: Lamentations 1:10 laments that foreign nations entered Jerusalem’s sanctuary, though God had forbidden such people to enter His assembly.
Answer: True
This is true. The enemy seized all of Jerusalem’s treasures, and worst of all she watched the nations walk into her sanctuary, the temple (1:10). The Law had shut certain foreign peoples out of the LORD’s assembly (Deuteronomy 23:3), yet now foreigners were striding into God’s holy house. A psalm mourns the same outrage: the nations had invaded God’s inheritance and defiled His temple (Psalm 79:1). The account of the city’s fall records that the LORD’s temple was burned (Jeremiah 52:13). The center of Israel’s worship was violated because the people had first broken faith with God (1:8).
- Lamentations 1:10 (BSB)“The adversary has seized all her treasures. For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary—those You had forbidden to enter Your assembly.”The enemy plunders Jerusalem’s treasures, and foreign nations enter the sanctuary.
- Deuteronomy 23:3 (BSB)“No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even to the tenth generation.”The Law kept certain foreign peoples out of Israel’s assembly, showing how shocking this entry was.
- Psalm 79:1 (BSB)“A Psalm of Asaph. The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.”A psalm mourns that the nations invaded God’s inheritance and defiled His temple.
- Jeremiah 52:13 (BSB)“He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.”The account of Jerusalem’s fall records that the LORD’s temple was burned.
Theological
True or False: In 1:10 the profanation of the sanctuary is lamented in terms of the nations entering where God had barred them from His assembly.
Answer: True
This is true. Beyond the plunder of her treasures, the poet laments that Jerusalem has watched foreign peoples walk into her holy place, the very people God had excluded from His assembly (1:10), alluding to the Law’s exclusion of certain peoples from the congregation (Deuteronomy 23:3). Psalm 79:1 mourns the same desecration of God’s inheritance and temple, and the narrative of the city’s fall records the burning of the temple (Jeremiah 52:13). The profanation of the holy place is the fitting consequence of Israel’s own profanation of the covenant (1:8).
- Lamentations 1:10 (BSB)“The adversary has seized all her treasures. For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary—those You had forbidden to enter Your assembly.”The enemy plunders Jerusalem’s treasures, and foreign nations enter the sanctuary.
- Deuteronomy 23:3 (BSB)“No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even to the tenth generation.”The Law kept certain foreign peoples out of Israel’s assembly, showing how shocking this entry was.
- Psalm 79:1 (BSB)“A Psalm of Asaph. The nations, O God, have invaded Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to rubble.”A psalm mourns that the nations invaded God’s inheritance and defiled His temple.
- Jeremiah 52:13 (BSB)“He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.”The account of Jerusalem’s fall records that the LORD’s temple was burned.
General
What sad refrain keeps returning throughout chapter 1 (for example 1:2, 1:9, 1:16-17, 1:21)?
Answer: She has no one left to console her
Again and again chapter 1 says that Jerusalem has no comforter. Her many lovers, most likely the nations she relied on instead of the LORD, offer no consolation, and her friends have turned against her (1:2). The same note sounds when her fall is described (1:9), when she weeps and reaches out in vain (1:16-17), and when she groans (1:21). The LORD had told Zion that all her lovers had forgotten her and that He had struck her because of her great guilt (Jeremiah 30:14), and Isaiah asked who could console the city in its ruin (Isaiah 51:19). Yet Isaiah later records God’s own command to speak gently to Jerusalem and console His people (Isaiah 40:1-2): the comfort no human ally could give would come from the LORD Himself.
- Lamentations 1:2 (BSB)“She weeps aloud in the night, with tears upon her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is no one to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.”Jerusalem weeps at night, and none of her lovers or friends consoles her; former allies are now foes.
- Lamentations 1:16-17 (BSB)“For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears. For there is no one nearby to comfort me, no one to revive my soul. My children are destitute because the enemy has prevailed. Zion stretches out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her. The LORD has decreed against Jacob that his neighbors become his foes. Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.”Zion weeps with no one near to comfort her, and the LORD has made her neighbors her foes.
- Jeremiah 30:14 (BSB)“All your lovers have forgotten you; they no longer seek you, for I have struck you as an enemy would, with the discipline of someone cruel, because of your great iniquity and your numerous sins.”The LORD told Zion that her lovers had abandoned her and that He had struck her for her great guilt.
- Isaiah 51:19 (BSB)“These pairs have befallen you: devastation and destruction, famine and sword. Who will grieve for you? Who can comfort you?”Isaiah asks who could grieve for or comfort the ruined city.
- Isaiah 40:1-2 (BSB)““Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her forced labor has been completed; her iniquity has been pardoned. For she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.””God Himself commands that His people be comforted, the consolation no human ally could give.
Theological
Which recurring refrain structures Jerusalem’s desolation in chapter 1 (1:2, 1:9, 1:16-17, 1:21)?
Answer: She has no one left to console her
The absence of a comforter is the chapter’s refrain. The lovers and friends in whom Jerusalem trusted, most likely her foreign allies, have become enemies and give no consolation (1:2), and the motif recurs at her fall (1:9), in her weeping and outstretched hands (1:16-17), and in her groaning (1:21). The LORD had told Zion that her lovers had forgotten her and that He had wounded her on account of her iniquity (Jeremiah 30:14), and Isaiah’s question of who could console the ruined city (Isaiah 51:19) receives its answer in God’s own summons to comfort His people (Isaiah 40:1-2). The comfort that misplaced trust could not supply is the LORD’s to give.
- Lamentations 1:2 (BSB)“She weeps aloud in the night, with tears upon her cheeks. Among all her lovers there is no one to comfort her. All her friends have betrayed her; they have become her enemies.”Jerusalem weeps at night, and none of her lovers or friends consoles her; former allies are now foes.
- Lamentations 1:16-17 (BSB)“For these things I weep; my eyes flow with tears. For there is no one nearby to comfort me, no one to revive my soul. My children are destitute because the enemy has prevailed. Zion stretches out her hands, but there is no one to comfort her. The LORD has decreed against Jacob that his neighbors become his foes. Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.”Zion weeps with no one near to comfort her, and the LORD has made her neighbors her foes.
- Jeremiah 30:14 (BSB)“All your lovers have forgotten you; they no longer seek you, for I have struck you as an enemy would, with the discipline of someone cruel, because of your great iniquity and your numerous sins.”The LORD told Zion that her lovers had abandoned her and that He had struck her for her great guilt.
- Isaiah 51:19 (BSB)“These pairs have befallen you: devastation and destruction, famine and sword. Who will grieve for you? Who can comfort you?”Isaiah asks who could grieve for or comfort the ruined city.
- Isaiah 40:1-2 (BSB)““Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her forced labor has been completed; her iniquity has been pardoned. For she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.””God Himself commands that His people be comforted, the consolation no human ally could give.
General
How does the poem picture Jerusalem in its opening verse (Lamentations 1:1)?
Answer: A once-crowded city now lonely, like a widow and a slave
The book opens with a cry of grief over Jerusalem’s sudden reversal. The city that once teemed with people now sits alone. She who was honored above other nations is now like a widow with no husband to protect her, and the princess who ruled over provinces has been reduced to forced labor (1:1). Every picture shows total loss: no protector, no crown, no freedom. Isaiah had warned that Zion’s gates would mourn and that she would sit destitute on the ground (Isaiah 3:26), because the faithful city had turned unfaithful (Isaiah 1:21). The first four chapters of Lamentations are each arranged as alphabetic poems, and this first one moves from a narrator describing the city to Jerusalem speaking for herself.
- Lamentations 1:1 (BSB)“How lonely lies the city, once so full of people! She who was great among the nations has become a widow. The princess of the provinces has become a slave.”The opening lament pictures Jerusalem as an emptied city, a widow, and a princess reduced to forced labor.
- Isaiah 3:26 (BSB)“And the gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground.”Isaiah foresaw Zion’s gates in mourning and the city sitting desolate on the ground.
- Isaiah 1:21 (BSB)“See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness resided within her, but now only murderers!”Isaiah lamented that the once-faithful city had turned unfaithful, which explains why her honor was lost.
Theological
What image of Jerusalem’s reversal opens the book (Lamentations 1:1)?
Answer: A once-crowded city now lonely, like a widow and a slave
The opening line sets the tone of the whole book: a populous city now solitary, once preeminent among the nations and now widowed, once sovereign over provinces and now a forced laborer (1:1). The triple reversal portrays the loss of protection, status and liberty together. Isaiah had foreseen Zion’s gates in mourning and the city seated desolate on the ground (Isaiah 3:26), the consequence of the faithful city’s apostasy (Isaiah 1:21). Chapters 1-4 are alphabetic acrostics, and chapter 1 alternates between a narrator’s description and the first-person voice of personified Jerusalem.
- Lamentations 1:1 (BSB)“How lonely lies the city, once so full of people! She who was great among the nations has become a widow. The princess of the provinces has become a slave.”The opening lament pictures Jerusalem as an emptied city, a widow, and a princess reduced to forced labor.
- Isaiah 3:26 (BSB)“And the gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground.”Isaiah foresaw Zion’s gates in mourning and the city sitting desolate on the ground.
- Isaiah 1:21 (BSB)“See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness resided within her, but now only murderers!”Isaiah lamented that the once-faithful city had turned unfaithful, which explains why her honor was lost.
General
What picture does Jerusalem use for her sins in 1:14?
Answer: A yoke the Lord fastened together and set on her neck
Jerusalem says her sins have been bound together into a yoke, woven by the Lord’s own hand and placed on her neck, so that her strength gives way and she is handed over to enemies too strong for her (1:14). A yoke was the wooden frame laid on oxen so they could be made to work. Her sins were not only a burden she carried; they became the very means by which God put her under foreign masters. Moses had warned that if Israel disobeyed, the LORD would load their necks with iron and make them serve their foes (Deuteronomy 28:48), and Jeremiah announced that God had placed such a yoke on the nations so they would serve Babylon’s king (Jeremiah 28:14).
- Lamentations 1:14 (BSB)“My transgressions are bound into a yoke, knit together by His hand; they are draped over my neck, and the Lord has broken my strength. He has delivered me into the hands of those I cannot withstand.”Jerusalem’s sins are fastened together by the Lord into a yoke, and she is handed over to stronger foes.
- Deuteronomy 28:48 (BSB)“you will serve your enemies the LORD will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.”Moses warned that a disobedient Israel would serve its enemies under an iron yoke.
- Jeremiah 28:14 (BSB)“For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I have even given him control of the beasts of the field.’””The LORD announced that He had laid an iron yoke on the nations so they would be subject to Babylon’s king.
Theological
How does 1:14 portray the relationship between Jerusalem’s sins and her subjugation?
Answer: A yoke the Lord fastened together and set on her neck
In 1:14 Jerusalem’s transgressions are knotted into a yoke by the Lord’s hand and fastened on her neck; her strength fails and she is delivered to those she cannot resist. Sin is not merely a weight she bears but the instrument by which God subjects her to foreign rule, a judicial handing over in which the penalty grows out of the offense. The image fulfills the covenant threat of an iron yoke and servitude to enemies (Deuteronomy 28:48), which Jeremiah applied to the nations’ subjection to Babylon (Jeremiah 28:14).
- Lamentations 1:14 (BSB)“My transgressions are bound into a yoke, knit together by His hand; they are draped over my neck, and the Lord has broken my strength. He has delivered me into the hands of those I cannot withstand.”Jerusalem’s sins are fastened together by the Lord into a yoke, and she is handed over to stronger foes.
- Deuteronomy 28:48 (BSB)“you will serve your enemies the LORD will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.”Moses warned that a disobedient Israel would serve its enemies under an iron yoke.
- Jeremiah 28:14 (BSB)“For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I have even given him control of the beasts of the field.’””The LORD announced that He had laid an iron yoke on the nations so they would be subject to Babylon’s king.