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,

The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his dominion, and all the nations, made war against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying: —

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:

Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: Go and speak to Zedekiah, the king of Judah, and say to him, Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

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.

And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go 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:

Yet hear the word of Jehovah, O Zedekiah, king of Judah! Thus saith Jehovah concerning thee: Thou shalt not die by the sword;

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.

in peace shalt thou die; and according to the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings, who were before thee, so shall they burn for thee; and they shall lament for thee, saying, “Ah, lord!” for I have spoken the word, saith Jehovah.

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

And Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words to Zedekiah, king of Judah, at 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.

And the army of the king of Babylon 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 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;

The word which came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people that were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them,

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:

that every one should let his man-servant or his maid-servant, being a Hebrew or Hebrewess, go free, that no one should retain his brother, a Jew, in servitude.

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.

And all the princes, and all the people, who had entered into covenant to let every one his man-servant and every one his maid-servant go free, and retain them in servitude no longer, obeyed; they obeyed, and let them go.

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.

But they returned afterwards, and took back the men-servants and the maid-servants whom they had let go free, and brought them into subjection as men-servants and as maid-servants.

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

Then came the word of Jehovah to Jeremiah from Jehovah, 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,

Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day when I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen, and said,

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.

“At the end of seven years ye shall let go every man his brother, a Hebrew, who shall have been sold to thee; when he shall have served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee.” But your fathers hearkened not to me, nor inclined their ear.

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:

And when ye had turned at this time, and had done what was right in mine eyes, in proclaiming liberty every one to his neighbor, and had entered into a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name,

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.

then ye returned and profaned my name, and took back every one his man-servant, and every one his maid-servant, whom he had set at liberty at their pleasure, and brought them into subjection to be men-servants and maid-servants to you.

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.

Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Ye have not hearkened to me in proclaiming liberty every one to his brother, and every one to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith Jehovah, to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, and I will give you up to oppression in all the kingdoms of the earth;

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,

and I will make the men who have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before me, like the calf which they cut in twain, and passed between the parts thereof,

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,

the princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, that passed between the parts 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.

I will give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life; and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.

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.

And Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his princes, will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, even into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which are gone up from 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.

Behold, I will command, saith Jehovah, 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.