Jeremiah 34

1The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth under the dominion of his hand, and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem and against all its cities, saying,

2Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and say to him, ‘Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.’

3And you will not escape from his hand, for you will surely be captured and given into his hand. Your eyes will see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and his mouth will speak to your mouth, and you will go to Babylon.

4Yet hear the word of Yahweh, Zedekiah king of Judah: Thus says Yahweh concerning you, You shall not die by the sword.

5You will die in peace. And as spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they will burn spices for you, and they will lament for you, saying, “Alas, lord!” For I have spoken the word, declares Yahweh.

6Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem.

7while the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the remaining cities of Judah, against Lachish and against Azekah, for these alone remained among the cities of Judah as fortified cities.

8The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them:

9that each man should set free his male servant and each man his female servant, the Hebrew man and the Hebrew woman, so that no one should enslave a Jew, his brother, among them.

10So all the officials and all the people who had entered into the covenant to send away, each man his male servant and each man his female servant, free, so as not to make them serve any longer, obeyed and sent them away.

11But afterward they turned back and brought back the male servants and the female servants whom they had set free, and they forced them into slavery as male and female servants.

12Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,

13Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: I myself made a covenant with your fathers on the day I brought them out from the land of Egypt, from the house of servants, saying,

14At the end of seven years, each of you shall send away his Hebrew brother who has been sold to you and has served you six years; you shall send him away free from you. But your fathers did not listen to me or incline their ear.

15And you yourselves had turned back today and had done what was right in my eyes, by proclaiming liberty, each man to his neighbor; and you had cut a covenant before me in the house that is called by my name.

16But you turned back and profaned my name: each of you made his male servant and his female servant return, though you had set them free to go where they wished; then you subjugated them to be your male and female servants.

17Therefore thus says Yahweh: You have not listened to me, to proclaim liberty, each man to his brother and each man to his neighbor. Behold, I am proclaiming liberty for you, declares Yahweh—to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine—and I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

18And I will hand over the men who transgressed my covenant, who did not uphold the words of the covenant that they made before me, the calf that they cut in two and passed between its pieces.

19the officials of Judah and the officials of Jerusalem, the court officials and the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf—

20And I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life, and their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth.

21And I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials into the hand of their enemies, 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.

22Behold, I am commanding, declares Yahweh, and I will 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.