(588 years before Christ.)
The people fell off from the Lord, and King Manasseh sacrificed his own
children to the idols, and the punishment had to come upon the kingdom
of Judah also. The king of Babylon, the mighty Nebuchadnezzar, took
Jerusalem, burned the temple and the city and tore down the walls.
Zedekiah, the last king, was forced to look upon the slaying of his own
children; then his eyes were put out, and he was placed in chains and
together with the people brought to Babylon in captivity 588 years
before the birth of Christ. (2 Kings 21-25.)