AB - Jeremiah - 34

34:1  The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord (now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the country of his dominion, were fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah), saying,

34:2  Thus says the Lord: Go to Zedekiah king of Judah, and you shall say to him, Thus says the Lord: This city shall certainly be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it, and shall burn it with fire.

34:3  And you shall not escape out of his hand, but shall certainly be taken, and shall be given into his hands; and your eyes shall see his eyes, and you shall enter into Babylon.

34:4  But hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah: Thus says the Lord:

34:5  You shall die in peace; and as they wept for your fathers that reigned before you, so shall they weep for you, saying, Alas, lord! And they shall lament for you down to the grave; for I have spoken the word, says the Lord.

34:6  And Jeremiah spoke to King Zedekiah all these words in Jerusalem.

34:7  And the army of the king of Babylon fought against Jerusalem, and against the cities of Judah, and against Lachish, and against Azekah; for these fortified cities were left among the cities of Judah.

34:8  This is the word that came from the Lord to Jeremiah, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with the people, to proclaim a release:

34:9  That every man should set his servant free, and every man his maidservant, the Hebrew man and Hebrew woman, that no one from Judah should be in bondage.

34:10  Then all the nobles, and all the people who had entered into the covenant, engaging to set free everyone of his male and female slaves, changed their minds,

34:11  and gave them over to be male and female slaves.

34:12  And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,

34:13  Thus says the Lord: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying,

34:14  When six years are accomplished, you shall set free your brother the Hebrew, who shall be sold to you; for he shall serve you six years, and then you shall let him go free. But they hearkened not to Me, and inclined not their ear.

34:15  And this day they turned to do that which was right in My sight, to proclaim everyone the release of his neighbor; and they had made a covenant before Me, in the house which is called by My name.

34:16  But you turned and profaned My name, to bring back everyone his servant, and everyone his handmaid, whom you had set free and at their own disposal, to be to you male and female slaves.

34:17  Therefore thus said the Lord: You have not hearkened to Me, to proclaim a release everyone to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim a release to you, to the sword, and to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will give you up to dispersion among all the kingdoms of the earth.

34:18  And I will give the men that have transgressed My covenant, who have not kept My covenant, which they made before Me, the calf which they prepared to sacrifice with it,

34:19  the princes of Judah, and the men in power, and the priests, and the people.

34:20  I will even give them to their enemies, and their carcasses shall be food for the birds of the sky and for the wild beasts of the earth.

34:21  And I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, and their princes, into the hands of their enemies, and the host of the king of Babylon shall come upon them that run away from them.

34:22  Behold, I will give command, says the Lord, and will bring them back to this land; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire, and the cities of Judah; and I will make them desolate without inhabitants.