1:2 the Lord gave . . . into his hand. Israel’s defeat by the Babylonians is not to be explained simply by analysis of military and political factors. God was at work in the affairs of the nations, and He used the Babylonians to judge His own people for their transgressions (2 Kin. 17:15, 18–20; 21:12–15; 24:3, 4).

the treasury of his god. Marduk (or Bel) was the chief god of the Babylonian pantheon (cf. Jer. 50:2).