In 586 B.C.E. the end does come. The Jews are defeated by the Babylonians. They were taken
into exile.
2 Kings 24,25
"Everything these people valued, everything that defined them to themselves, was gone. Their nation was no more. Jerusalen, God's special city, was a pile of stone. The Temple, God's earthly dwelling place, was laid waste. The priesthood, their sacred customs, their creedal statements, the social fabric that gave order to Jewish life -- all were lost." [2]
Psalms 137:1-4
The Psalm is about their exile in Babylon. The Babylonian soldiers taunted the defeated Jews.
"Sing us one of the songs of Zion," their conquerors urged. But the Jews could not sing. They
could weep and they could remember, but they could not sing. The God to whom their songs were
directed was in Jerusalem. "How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?" was their
response.[3]