Jeremiah 34

1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, all his army, all the earthly kingdoms under his control, and all the other nations were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding cities.

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came with the armies of all the kingdoms that he ruled, and they fought against Jerusalem and the other towns [in Judah]. At that time, Yahweh gave me this message:

2 The LORD, the God of Israel, told Jeremiah to go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him that this is what the LORD says: “Behold, I am about to deliver this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down.

“Go to Zedekiah the King of Judah, and say to him, ‘This is what Yahweh, the God whom we Israelis [worship], says: “I am about to enable the army of the King of Babylon to capture this city, and they will burn it down.

3 And you yourself will not escape his grasp, but will surely be captured and delivered into his hand. You will see the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak with him face to face; and you will go to Babylon.

You will not escape from them; they will capture you and take you to the king of Babylon. And [then] they will take you to Babylon.”’

4 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what the LORD says concerning you: You will not die by the sword;

But King Zedekiah, listen to this that Yahweh has promised: ‘You will not be killed in a battle [MTY];

5 you will die in peace. As spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who preceded you, so people will burn spices for you and lament, ‘Alas, O master!’ For I Myself have spoken this word, declares the LORD.”

you will die peacefully. [When you die], people will burn incense to honor/remember you just as they did for your ancestors who were kings before you became king. They will mourn for you, crying, “We are very sad that our king is dead!” I, Yahweh, promise that will happen.’”

6 In Jerusalem, then, Jeremiah the prophet relayed all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah

[So] I took that message to King Zedekiah.

7 as the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and the remaining cities of Judah—against Lachish and Azekah. For these were the only fortified cities remaining in Judah.

At that time the army of Babylonia had surrounded Jerusalem and Lachish and Azekah. Those [three] cities were the only cities in Judah that had high walls around them that still had not been captured.

8 After King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim liberty, the word came to Jeremiah from the LORD

King Zedekiah had decreed that the people must free their slaves.

9 that each man should free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female, and no one should hold his fellow Jew in bondage.

[He decreed that] the people must free their Hebrew slaves, [both the] men slaves and the women [slaves]. No one would be allowed to force a fellow Jew to [continue to] be his slave.

10 So all the officials and all the people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their menservants and maidservants and no longer hold them in bondage. They obeyed and released them,

The officials and the rest of the people had obeyed [what the king decreed],

11 but later they changed their minds and took back the menservants and maidservants they had freed, and they forced them to become slaves again.

but later they changed their minds. They forced the men and women whom they had freed to become their slaves again.

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

[So] Yahweh gave me this message [to tell to them]:

13 “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your forefathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying:

“I, Yahweh, the God whom you Israelis [say you belong to], (made an agreement with/gave this command to) your ancestors [long ago], when I rescued them from being slaves in Egypt.

14 Every seventh year, each of you must free his Hebrew brother who has sold himself to you. He may serve you six years, but then you must let him go free. But your fathers did not listen or incline their ear.

I told them that they must free all their Hebrew slaves after the slaves had worked for them for six years. But your ancestors did not pay any attention to what I said.

15 Recently you repented and did what pleased Me; each of you proclaimed freedom for his neighbor. You made a covenant before Me in the house that bears My Name.

Recently, you obeyed my command and stopped doing what was wrong and did what was right. You made a solemn agreement at my temple [that you would free your slaves], and [then] you freed them.

16 But now you have changed your minds and profaned My name. Each of you has taken back the menservants and maidservants whom you had set at liberty to go wherever they wanted, and you have again forced them to be your slaves.

But now you have disregarded what you solemnly promised, and you have shown contempt for what I [MTY] said by taking back the women and men whom you had freed and said they could live wherever they wanted to. [Now] you have forced them to be your slaves again.

17 Therefore this is what the LORD says: You have not obeyed Me; you have not proclaimed freedom, each man for his brother and for his neighbor. So now I proclaim freedom for you, declares the LORD—freedom to fall by sword, by plague, and by famine! I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

Therefore, this is what [I], Yahweh, say: ‘Because you have not obeyed me by freeing your fellow Israelis, I will free you to [be destroyed by] the swords [of your enemies] and by famines and diseases. All the nations of the earth will be horrified because of [what happens to] you.

18 And those who have transgressed 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 in order to pass between its pieces.

Because you have disregarded what I said in my agreement with you, I will do to you just like you did to the calves that you cut in half to show that you would surely do what you solemnly promised that you would do. I will [enable your enemies to] cut you into pieces, you officials of Judah and you officials of Jerusalem, and you officials in the palace, and you priests and all you common people. I will do that because you have disregarded what you solemnly promised [about freeing your slaves].

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

20 I will deliver into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.

I will enable your enemies to capture you, and they will kill you. And your bodies will be food for vultures and wild animals.

21 And I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives, to the army of the king of Babylon that had withdrawn from you.

I will enable the army of the king of Babylon to capture King Zedekiah and his officials. Although the king of Babylon and his army have left Jerusalem [for a short time],

22 Behold, I am going to give the command, declares the LORD, and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it down. And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”

I will summon them back again. [This time], they will fight against this city and capture it and burn it down. I will make [sure] that all the towns in Judah are destroyed, [with the result that] no one will live there [any more].’”