God sent prophets to Judah to warn them of the destruction that was going to happen if they didn’t repent of their sin. Judah was sent the prophets Joel, Isaiah, Micah, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Jerimiah, and Ezekiel. None of the kings heeded the warnings of the prophets except the most wicked king. When he was in captivity, he repented of his sins. Then God freed him from captivity and he went back to Judah, tore down all the idols, and restored the worship of God.

Destruction did come because the Judeans didn’t repent of their sins. The Babylonians came, conquered Judah, deported some of the Judeans, and set up a puppet king, Jedekiah. Because Jedekiah refused to send tribute to Nebuchadnezzar (the king of Babylon), he raided Judah and took everyone in the city captive, but he was eventually conquered by the Persians. The Persians liked the Judeans, so they let them go to rebuild Judah and the temple of God after spending 70 years in captivity.

During their captivity, the Judeans finally repented. If only they had repented earlier, they would not have been captured and their city wouldn’t have been destroyed. I learned from this lesson that I should always obey God, even when things are hard.