Jeremias 34
1 Thus said the Lord; Make to yourself bonds and yokes, and put [them] about your neck,
The word that has been to Jeremiah from YHWH—and Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his force, and all kingdoms of the land of the dominion of his hand, and all the peoples are fighting against Jerusalem, and against all its cities—saying:
“Thus said YHWH, God of Israel: Go, and you have spoken to Zedekiah king of Judah, and have said to him, Thus said YHWH: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he has burned it with fire,
3 and you shall 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 do not escape out of his hand, for you are certainly caught, and you are given into his hand, and your eyes see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and his mouth speaks with your mouth, and you enter Babylon.
4 And you shall commission them to say to their lords, Thus said the Lord God of Israel; Thus shall you say to your lords;
Only, hear a word of YHWH, O Zedekiah king of Judah—thus said YHWH to you: You do not die by sword,
5 I have made the earth by my great power, and with my high arm, and I will give it to whoever it shall seem [good] in mine eyes.
you die in peace, and with the burnings of your fathers, the former kings who have been before you, so they make a burning for you; and, Oh, lord, they lament for you, for the word I have spoken—a declaration of YHWH.”
6 I gave the earth to Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon to serve him, and the wild beasts of the field to labour for him.
And Jeremiah the prophet speaks all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem,
and the forces of the king of Babylon are fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that are left—against Lachish, and against Azekah, for these have been left among the cities of Judah, cities of fortresses.
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, says the Lord, until they are consumed by his hand.
The word that has been to Jeremiah from YHWH, after the making of a covenant by King Zedekiah with all the people who [are] in Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them,
9 And listen you 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, You shall by no means work for the king of Babylon:
to each send out his manservant, and each his maidservant—the Hebrew and the Hebrewess—free, so as not to lay service on them—on any Jew, a brother, a man;
10 for they prophesy lies to you, to remove you far from your land.
and all the heads listen, and all the people who have come into the covenant to each send forth his manservant and each his maidservant free, so as not to lay service on them anymore, indeed, they listen, and send them away;
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.
and they turn afterward, and cause the menservants and the maidservants to return, whom they had sent forth free, and they subdue them for menservants and for maidservants.
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.
And there is a word of YHWH to Jeremiah from YHWH, saying,
“Thus said YHWH, God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day of My bringing them forth from the land of Egypt, from a house of servants, saying,
14 For they prophesy unrighteous [words] to you,
At the end of seven years you each send forth his brother, the Hebrew, who is sold to you, and has served you six years, indeed, you have sent him forth from you free: and your fathers did not listen to Me, nor inclined their ear.
15 for I sent them not, says the Lord; and they prophesy [in] my name unjustly, that I might destroy you, and you should perish, and your prophets, who unrighteously prophesy lies to you.
And today you turn back and you do that which is right in My eyes, to each proclaim liberty to his neighbor, and you make a covenant before Me in the house over which My Name is called.
16 I spoke to you, and to all this people, and to the priests, saying, Thus said the Lord; Listen 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].
And you turn back, and defile My Name, and you each cause his manservant and each his maidservant, whom he had sent forth free (at their pleasure), to return, and you subdue them to be for menservants and for maidservants to you.”
17 I sent them not.
Therefore, thus said YHWH: “You have not listened to Me to proclaim freedom, each to his brother, and each to his neighbor; behold, I am proclaiming to you liberty,” a declaration of YHWH, “to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine, and I have given you for a trembling to all 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 I have given the men who are transgressing My covenant, who have not established the words of the covenant that they have made before Me, by the calf, that they have cut in two, and pass through between its pieces—
19 And as for the remaining vessels,
heads of Judah, and heads of Jerusalem, the officers, and the priests, and all the people of the land who had passed through between the pieces of the calf—
20 which the king of Babylon took not, when he carried Jechonias prisoner out of Jerusalem,
indeed, I have given them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those seeking their soul, and their carcass has been for food to the bird of the heavens, and to the beast of the earth.
And I give Zedekiah king of Judah and his heads into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those seeking their soul, and into the hand of the forces of the king of Babylon that are going up from off you.
22 they shall go into Babylon, says the Lord.
Behold, I am commanding,” a declaration of YHWH, “and have brought them back to this city, and they have fought against it, and captured it, and burned it with fire, and I make the cities of Judah a desolation—without inhabitant.”
