Jeremias 34
1 Thus said the Lord; Make to thyself bonds and yokes, and put [them] about thy neck,
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.
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.
3 and thou shalt send them to the king of Idumea, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the children of Ammon, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hands of their messengers that come to meet them at Jerusalem to Sedekias king of Juda.
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.
4 And thou shalt commission them to say to their lords, Thus said the Lord God of Israel; Thus shall ye say to your lords;
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;
5 I have made the earth by my great power, and with my high arm, and I will give it to whomsoever it shall seem [good] in mine eyes.
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.”
6 I gave the earth to Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon to serve him, and the wild beasts of the field to labour for him.
In Jerusalem, then, Jeremiah the prophet relayed all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah
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.
8 And the nation and kingdom, all that shall not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, with sword and famine will I visit them, saith the Lord, until they are consumed by his hand.
After King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim liberty, the word came to Jeremiah from the LORD
9 And hearken ye not to your false prophets, nor to them that divine to you, nor to them that foretell events by dreams to you, nor to your auguries, nor your sorcerers, that say, Ye shall by no means work for the king of Babylon:
that each man should free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female, and no one should hold his fellow Jew in bondage.
10 for they prophesy lies to you, to remove you far from your land.
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,
11 But the nation which shall put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, I will even leave it upon its land, and it shall serve him, and dwell in it.
but later they changed their minds and took back the menservants and maidservants they had freed, and they forced them to become slaves again.
12 I spoke also to Sedekias king of Juda according to all these words, saying, Put your neck into [the yoke], and serve the king of Babylon.
Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
“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:
14 For they prophesy unrighteous [words] to you,
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.
15 for I sent them not, saith the Lord; and they prophesy [in] my name unjustly, that I might destroy you, and ye should perish, and your prophets, who unrighteously prophesy lies to you.
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.
16 I spoke to you, and to all this people, and to the priests, saying, Thus said the Lord; Hearken not to the words of the prophets that prophesy to you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the Lord's house shall return from Babylon: for they prophesy to you unrighteous [words].
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.
17 I sent them not.
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.
18 If they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is in them, let them meet me, for thus has the Lord said.
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.
19 And as for the remaining vessels,
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 which the king of Babylon took not, when he carried Jechonias prisoner out of Jerusalem,
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.
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.
22 they shall go into Babylon, saith the Lord.
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.”
