After the fall of Jerusalem, it is striking that even the nations saw Israel’s defilement as a consequence of Jerusalem’s fall. Lamentations 4:12–13 says, The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any of the inhabitants of the world, that foe or enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem. This was for the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous. The author then uses the same verb for defile as Zephaniah did, saying that the people of God wandered, blind, through the streets; they were so defiled with blood that no one was able to touch their garments (Lamentations 4:14).¹