Jeremiah 34

A Word to Zedekiah During the Siege

1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, all the kingdoms of the earth under his rule, and all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and all its cities, saying, 2“Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and say to him: Thus says the LORD: Look, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire. 3You will not escape from his hand, but 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 with your mouth, and you will go to Babylon. 4Yet hear the word of the LORD, Zedekiah king of Judah. Thus says the LORD concerning you: You will not die by the sword. 5You will die in peace. As they burned spices for your ancestors, the former kings who were before you, so they will burn spices for you, and they will lament for you, ‘Alas, lord!’ For I have spoken the word,” says the LORD. 6Jeremiah 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 cities of Judah that remained: Lachish and Azekah, for these fortified cities remained among the cities of Judah.

A Covenant to Release Hebrew Servants

8The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to proclaim release to them: 9that each person should release his Hebrew male servant and female servant, a Hebrew man or woman, so that no Judean should hold his brother or sister in service. 10All the officials and all the people who entered into the covenant listened, each releasing his male servant and female servant so that they would no longer hold them in service. They listened and released them. 11But afterward they turned back and took again the male servants and female servants whom they had released as free and forced them again into male and female servitude.

You Turned Back and Profaned My Name

12Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 13“Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your ancestors on the day I brought them out from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery, saying, 14‘At the end of seven years, each of you shall release his Hebrew brother who has been sold to you and has served you six years. You shall let him go free from you.’ But your ancestors did not listen to me or incline their ear. 15You yourselves had turned today and done what is right in my eyes by proclaiming release each to his neighbor, and you made a covenant before me in the house that is called by my name. 16But you turned back and profaned my name, each taking back his male servant and female servant whom you had released as free according to their desire, and you forced them to become your male and female servants.

I Proclaim Release to the Sword

17Therefore thus says the LORD: “You have not listened to me, to proclaim release each to his brother and each to his neighbor. Look, I am proclaiming release to you,” says the LORD, “to the sword, to plague, and to famine. I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 18I will give the men who transgressed my covenant, who did not establish the words of the covenant that they made before me when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts— 19the officials of Judah, the officials of Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf— 20I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds of the heavens and the animals of the earth. 21And Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon that has withdrawn from you. 22Look, I am commanding,” says the LORD, “and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it with fire. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant.”