Jeremiah 34

₁King Nebuchadnezzar and all his soldiers, and all the nations over which he ruled, made war_against Jerusalem and all the towns near the city. Then the Lord talked to Jeremiah and He said: ₂‘I, the Lord, the God of Israel, say: You must go and tell Zedekiah, king_of_Judah, that I say: “I give this city to the king of Babylon and he will burn it down. ₃You will not be able to flee from him. His soldiers will catch you, that is sure, and they will give you to him. You and the king of Babylon will see each other and talk to each other and you will go to Babylon.”

₄But listen what the Lord also says to Zedekiah, king_of_Judah: “You will not die in this war. ₅You will die when there is peace in your land. Your people will burn fires for you to mourn you, like they did for the kings_of_Judah who ruled before you. This is what I promise,” says the Lord.’

₆The prophet Jeremiah went to Zedekiah, king_of_Judah in Jerusalem, and he told him everything. ₇This happened when the soldiers of the king of Babylon started to make war_against Jerusalem and against all the towns of Judah that were left over, against Lachish and Azekah, the only cities with strong walls that were left over.

₈The Lord talked to Jeremiah again after Zedekiah had made an agreement with the people in Jerusalem. They promised to free the Hebrew slaves. ₉Everyone who had Hebrew slaves promised to set them free, all the slaves and slave women, so that no Hebrew would have a slave who was one of his own people. ₁₀All the officials and all the people who made this agreement with the king then let their Hebrew slaves go free. ₁₁But then later they changed their minds and they took back the slaves and slave women and made them slaves again.

₁₂The Lord said to Jeremiah: ₁₃‘I, the Lord, the God of Israel, say: I made a covenant with your forefathers when I saved them from Egypt where they were slaves. I said: ₁₄“After every 7th year, all of you must set free the Hebrew slaves that were sold to you and have served you for 6 years. You must set them all free.” But your forefathers did not do that. They did not listen to Me. ₁₅Not long ago, you did what is right and what I want. You decided to free the Israelite slaves and you made an agreement in the temple that has my name. ₁₆But then you changed your minds and you took the slaves back. You did not honour my name. You made my name impure. You made those men and women slaves again after you had set them free.

₁₇That is why I say now: You did not listen to Me. You did not free the Israelites who were slaves. Now I will let you go free, free to go and die in the war and in disease and in hunger. I will make all the nations on earth hate you. ₁₈You made an agreement and I was your Witness. You cut a calf into 2 pieces and you walked between the 2 pieces. But then some of you did not do what they had promised in that agreement. Now I will cut those people into 2 pieces like that calf. ₁₉I will do it to the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, to the officers and the priests and to all the people who walked between the pieces of the calf. ₂₀I will give these people to their enemies, to the people who want to kill them. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds and the wild animals.

₂₁And I will give King Zedekiah of Judah and his officials to their enemies who want to kill them, and to the soldiers of the king of Babylon who have gone away from you. ₂₂I will tell them to come back to this city. They will go to war_against it and they will defeat and burn this city. I will make all the people disappear from the cities of Judah, and no one will be left over.’