“Its gates sank into the ground; He eradicated and broke its bars. Its king and its princes are among the nations; there is no Torah; its prophets, too, could not find a vision from the Lord” (Lamentations 2:9).“Its gates sank into the ground,” Rabbi Huna said in the name of Rabbi Yosei: Gates accorded honor to the Ark; therefore, the enemy did not take control of them. That is what is written: “Lift your heads, gates, [and be lifted up, everlasting doors, that the King of glory may come in]” (Psalms 24:7).104The Gemara (Shabbat 30a) relates that when Solomon sought to bring the Ark into the Temple, the gates would not open until he recited this verse. That is why “its gates sank into the ground; He eradicated and broke its bars.”“Its king and its princes are among the nations; there is no Torah.” If a person will say to you: ‘There is wisdom among the nations,’ believe it. That is what is written: “I will eliminate the wise from Edom, and understanding from the mountain of Esau” (Obadiah 1:8). [If a person will say:] ‘There is Torah among the nations,’ do not believe it, as it is written: “Its king and its princes are among the nations; there is no Torah.”“Its prophets,” these are the false prophets. “Its prophets, too,” these are the true prophets.105The extraneous word “too” indicates that even the real prophets were no longer granted prophecy. These and those “could not find a vision from the Lord.”