7. What effect has the captivity of Jehovah’s people had on his name?

⁷ The captive condition of Jehovah’s people has an effect on his name, as the prophecy shows: “‘Now, what interest do I have here?’ is the utterance of Jehovah. ‘For my people were taken for nothing. The very ones ruling over them kept howling,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘and constantly, all day long, my name was being treated with disrespect.

Isaiah 52:5,

What interest does Jehovah have in the situation? What concern of his is it that Israel is enslaved in Babylon? Jehovah must act because Babylon has taken his people captive and has howled over them in triumph. Such bragging has led to Babylon’s treating Jehovah’s name disrespectfully. (Ezekiel 36:20, 21) She has failed to recognize that the desolate condition of Jerusalem is on account of Jehovah’s displeasure toward his people. Rather, Babylon has viewed the enslavement of the Jews as evidence of the weakness of their God. The Babylonian coregent Belshazzar even mocks Jehovah by using vessels from His temple during a feast in honor of Babylonian gods.​—Daniel 5:1-4.

8. How has Jehovah’s name been treated since the death of the apostles?

⁸ How does all of this apply to “Jerusalem above”? Ever since apostasy took root among professed Christians, it could be said that “the name of God is being blasphemed on account of [those] people among the nations.” (Romans 2:24; Acts 20:29, 30) For that matter, because of superstition the Jews eventually started to avoid using the divine name. Soon after the death of the apostles, apostate Christians followed suit and ceased to use God’s personal name. The apostasy resulted in the development of Christendom, a major part of Babylon the Great. (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 7; Revelation 17:5) Christendom’s wanton immorality and brazen bloodguilt have reflected badly on Jehovah’s name.​—2 Peter 2:1, 2.