34:1 While Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms and peoples in the empire he ruled were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding towns, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
34:2 “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Go to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am about to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down.
34:3 You will not escape from his grasp but will surely be captured and handed over to him. You will see the king of Babylon with your own eyes, and he will speak with you face to face. And you will go to Babylon.
34:4 “‘Yet hear the promise of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what the LORD says concerning you: You will not die by the sword;
34:5 you will die peacefully. As people made a funeral fire in honor of your fathers, the former kings who preceded you, so they will make a fire in your honor and lament, “Alas, O master!” I myself make this promise, declares the LORD.’”
34:6 Then Jeremiah the prophet told all this to Zedekiah king of Judah, in Jerusalem,
34:7 while the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah that were still holding out–Lachish and Azekah. These were the only fortified cities left in Judah.
34:8 The word came to Jeremiah from the LORD after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom for the slaves.
34:9 Everyone was to free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female; no one was to hold a fellow Jew in bondage.
34:10 So all the officials and people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their male and female slaves and no longer hold them in bondage. They agreed, and set them free.
34:11 But afterward they changed their minds and took back the slaves they had freed and enslaved them again.
34:12 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:
34:13 “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your forefathers when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I said,
34:14 ‘Every seventh year each of you must free any fellow Hebrew who has sold himself to you. After he has served you six years, you must let him go free.’ Your fathers, however, did not listen to me or pay attention to me.
34:15 Recently you repented and did what is right in my sight: Each of you proclaimed freedom to his countrymen. You even made a covenant before me in the house that bears my Name.
34:16 But now you have turned around and profaned my name; each of you has taken back the male and female slaves you had set free to go where they wished. You have forced them to become your slaves again.
34:17 “Therefore, this is what the LORD says: You have not obeyed me; you have not proclaimed freedom for your fellow countrymen. So I now proclaim ‘freedom’ for you, declares the LORD–‘freedom’ to fall by the sword, plague and famine. I will make you abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth.
34:18 The men who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces.
34:19 The leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests and all the people of the land who walked between the pieces of the calf,
34:20 I will hand over to their enemies who seek their lives. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.
34:21 “I will hand Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials over to their enemies who seek their lives, to the army of the king of Babylon, which has withdrawn from you.
34:22 I am going to give the order, declares the LORD, and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, take it and burn it down. And I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there.”
34:1 The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah when Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms of the earth under his dominion and all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and against all its cities, saying,
34:2 Thus says Jehovah the God of Israel, Go and speak to Zedekiah the king of Judah and say to him, Thus says Jehovah, I am about to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire;
34:3 And you will not escape from his hand but will surely be captured and given into his hand; and your eyes will see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he will speak with you mouth to mouth, and you will go into Babylon.
34:4 Yet hear the word of Jehovah, O Zedekiah king of Judah, Thus says Jehovah concerning you, You will not die by the sword.
34:5 You will die in peace; and as there were burnings for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so men will burn spices for you and wail for you, saying, Alas, lord! Indeed, it is I who have spoken the word, declares Jehovah.
34:6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah the king of Judah in Jerusalem
34:7 When the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and against Azekah, for these were the fortified cities that remained among the cities of Judah.
34:8 The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to proclaim liberty to them,
34:9 That every one should set free his male servant and every one his female servant, who is a Hebrew male or a Hebrew female, so that no one should exact service of them, that is, of a Jew his brother.
34:10 And all the princes and all the people who had entered into the covenant obeyed, so as to set free every one his male servant and every one his female servant, so that no one would exact service of them again; and they obeyed and set them free.
34:11 But afterward they turned around and took back the male servants and the female servants, whom they had set free, and they brought them into subjection as male servants and as female servants.
34:12 And the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,
34:13 Thus says Jehovah the God of Israel, I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying,
34:14 At the end of every seven years each of you shall set free his brother who is a Hebrew, who was sold to you and has served you six years, and you shall set him free from you; but your fathers did not listen to Me or incline their ear.
34:15 And though you had turned in these days and done what is right in My eyes to proclaim liberty, each one to his neighbor, and made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name;
34:16 You turned back and profaned My name when you took back each one his male servant and each one his female servant, whom you had set free according to their desire, and brought them into subjection to be your male servants and your female servants.
34:17 Therefore thus says Jehovah, You have not listened to Me to proclaim liberty each one to his brother and each one to his neighbor; I am now proclaiming liberty to you, declares Jehovah, to sword and to pestilence and to famine, and I will make you a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
34:18 And I will give the men who transgressed My covenant and did not establish the words of the covenant which they made before Me when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts,
34:19 The princes of Judah and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs and the priests and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf ?
34:20 Indeed, I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life, and their corpses will be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.
34:21 And Zedekiah the king of Judah and his princes I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life and into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, which has withdrawn from you.
34:22 I hereby give the command, declares Jehovah, to bring them back to this city; and they will fight against it and capture it and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.