Jeremiah 34

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth which were under his rule, and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem and all its towns, saying,

This is the Lord's message that came to Jeremiah when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, all his army, along with troops from all the countries he ruled and other nations were attacking Jerusalem and all its nearby towns:

2 The Lord, the God of Israel, has said, Go and say to Zedekiah, king of Judah, This is what the Lord has said: See, I will give this town into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will have it burned with fire:

This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Go and talk to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him that this is what the Lord says: Listen! I am about to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he is going to burn it down.

3 And you will not get away from him, but will certainly be taken and given up into his hands; and you will see the king of Babylon, eye to eye, and he will have talk with you, mouth to mouth, and you will go to Babylon.

You yourself won't escape being captured by him. You will certainly be taken prisoner and brought before him to speak with him personally and see him face to face. You will be taken to Babylon.

4 But give ear to the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah, king of Judah; this is what the Lord has said about you: Death will not come to you by the sword:

Listen to what the Lord is telling you, Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what the Lord says about you: You won't be killed;

5 You will come to your end in peace; and such burnings as they made for your fathers, the earlier kings before you, will be made for you; and they will be weeping for you and saying, Ah lord! for I have said the word, says the Lord.

you will die in peace. You will have a proper funeral with incense burned for you as they did for your forefathers, the kings who ruled before you. They will weep for you, crying, “The king is dead.” I myself am telling you this, declares the Lord.

6 Then Jeremiah the prophet said all these things to Zedekiah, king of Judah, in Jerusalem,

Jeremiah the prophet told Zedekiah king of Judah all this there in Jerusalem.

7 When the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the towns of Judah which had not been taken, against Lachish and against Azekah; for these were the last of the walled towns of Judah.

At this time the king of Babylon's army was attacking the city and the Judean towns of Lachish and Azekah. These were the only fortified cities that had not yet been conquered in Judah.

8 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after King Zedekiah had made an agreement with all the people in Jerusalem, to give news in public that servants were to be made free;

A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah had made a agreement with everyone in Jerusalem to announce a proclamation of freedom.

9 That every man was to let his Hebrew man-servant and his Hebrew servant-girl go free; so that no one might make use of a Jew, his countryman, as a servant:

This meant that every slave owner should free their Hebrew slaves, both male and female. No one was to force their fellow citizens to remain slaves any longer.

10 And this was done by all the rulers and the people who had taken part in the agreement, and every one let his man-servant and his servant-girl go free, not to be used as servants any longer; they did so, and let them go.

All the officials and all the people who accepted this agreement did what they said. They freed their male and female slaves, not forcing them to remain slaves any longer. They obeyed and let them go free.

11 But later, they took back again the servants and the servant-girls whom they had let go free, and put them again under the yoke as servants and servant-girls.

However, later on they changed their minds and took back the male and female slaves they'd freed, forcing them back into slavery.

12 For this reason the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,

13 The Lord, the God of Israel, has said, I made an agreement with your fathers on the day when I took them out of Egypt, out of the prison-house, saying,

This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I made a agreement with your forefathers when I led them out of Egypt, out of the prison-house of slavery, saying:

14 At the end of seven years every man is to let go his countryman who is a Hebrew, who has become yours for a price and has been your servant for six years; you are to let him go free: but your fathers gave no attention and did not give ear.

Every seventh year, each of you are to set free all fellow Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. They can serve you for six years, but then you must set them free. But your forefathers didn't pay attention and didn't obey what I told them.

15 And now, turning away from evil, you had done what is right in my eyes, giving a public undertaking for every man to make his neighbour free; and you had made an agreement before me in the house which is named by my name:

A little while ago you decided to do what's right, which made me happy. You all announced that you would free your slaves. You made a agreement before me in my Temple.

16 But again you have put shame on my name, and you have taken back, every one his man-servant and his servant-girl, whom you had sent away free, and you have put them under the yoke again to be your servants and servant-girls.

But now you've changed your minds and dishonored me. Each of you took back the male and female slaves you'd set free to do whatever they wanted. You forced them to become your slaves again.

17 And so the Lord has said, You have not given ear to me and undertaken publicly, every man to let loose his countryman and his neighbour: see, I undertake to let loose against you the sword and disease and need of food; and I will send you wandering among all the kingdoms of the earth.

So this is what the Lord says: You haven't obeyed me. You haven't announced freedom for your slaves, your own people. So now I announce “freedom” for you, declares the Lord: Freedom to be killed by war, by disease, and by famine! I will make all the kingdoms of the world horrified by you.

18 And I will give the men who have gone against my agreement and have not given effect to the words of the agreement which they made before me, when the ox was cut in two and they went between the parts of it,

They have broken my agreement, and have not kept the terms of the agreement they promised before me. So I'm going to cut them up just like the calf they cut in half to pass between its two pieces.

19 The rulers of Judah and the rulers of Jerusalem, the unsexed servants and the priests and all the people of the land who went between the parts of the ox,

I will hand them over to their enemies who are trying to kill them. This includes the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and everyone else who passed between the pieces of the calf.

20 Even these I will give up into the hands of their haters and into the hands of those who have designs against their lives: and their dead bodies will become food for the birds of heaven and the beasts of the earth.

Their dead bodies will become food for birds of prey and wild animals.

21 And Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his rulers I will give into the hands of their haters and into the hands of those who have designs against their lives, and into the hands of the king of Babylon's army which has gone away from you.

I will hand over Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials to their enemies who are trying to kill them, to the army of the king of Babylon which had paused its attack on you.

22 See, I will give orders, says the Lord, and make them come back to this town; and they will make war on it and take it and have it burned with fire: and I will make the towns of Judah waste and unpeopled.

Listen! I will give the order, declares the Lord, and bring them back to Jerusalem. They will attack it, capture it, and burn it. I'm going to destroy the towns of Judah so nobody will live there.