Jeremiah, Chapter 34

1. The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying,    2. Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus says the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:    3. And you shall not escape out of his hand, but shall surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and your eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with you mouth to mouth, and you shall go to Babylon.    4. Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus says the LORD concerning you, You shall not die by the sword:    5. But you shall die in peace: and with the burnings that were done for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so shall they burn odors for you; and they will lament you, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, says the LORD.    6. Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem,    7. When the king of Babylon's army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these fortified cities remained of the cities of Judah.    8. This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them;    9. That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free; that none should be served by them, that is, of a Jew his brother.    10. Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should be served by them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go.    11. But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection as servants and as handmaids.    12. Therefore 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 fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying,    14. At the end of seven years let go every man his brother a Hebrew, who has been sold to you; and when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you: but your fathers did not listen to me, neither inclined their ear.    15. And you had now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor; and you had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name:    16. But you turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom you had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be to you servants and handmaids.    17. Therefore thus says the LORD; You have not listened to me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbor: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, says the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.    18. And I will give the men who have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in two, and passed between the parts thereof,    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;    20. I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for food for the birds of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.    21. And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which is gone up from you.    22. Behold, I will command, says the LORD, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant.