Yirmeyahu 34 ירמיהו ל״ד

The word which came to Yirmeyahu from the Lord, when Nevukhadreżżar king of Bavel, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Yerushalayim, and against all its cities, saying,

Thus says the Lord, the God of Yisra᾽el; Go and speak to Żidqiyyahu king of Yehuda, and tell him, Thus says the Lord; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Bavel, and he shall burn it with fire:

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

Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Żidqiyyahu king of Yehuda; Thus says the Lord of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword:

but thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they make a burning for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah master! for I have pronounced a word, says the Lord.

Then Yirmeyahu the prophet spoke all these words to Żidqiyyahu king of Yehuda in Yerushalayim,

when the army of the king of Bavel fought against Yerushalayim, and against all the cities of Yehuda that were left, against Lakhish, and against ῾Azeqa; for these fortified cities remained of the cities of Yehuda.

This is the word that came to Yirmeyahu from the Lord, after the king Żidqiyyahu had made a covenant with all the people which were at Yerushalayim, proclaim liberty to them;

that every man should let his Hebrew manservant, and every man his Hebrew maidservant, go free; that none should enslave any of them, namely a man of Yehuda, being his brother.

Now when all the princes, and all the people, who had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should enslave them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go.

But afterwards they relapsed, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.

Therefore the word of the Lord came to Yirmeyahu from the Lord saying,

Thus says the Lord, the God of Yisra᾽el; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Miżrayim, out of the house of slavery, saying,

At the end of seven years, shall you release every man his brother being a Hebrew, who has been sold to thee; and when he has served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not to Me, neither inclined their ear.

And you now turned, and had done right in My sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and you had made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name:

nevertheless you relapsed and have profaned My name, and everyone of you has caused his servant, and his handmaid, (whom he had set at liberty at their pleasure,) to return, and has brought them into subjection, to be to you for servants and for handmaids.

Therefore thus says the Lord; since you have not hearkened to Me, in proclaiming liberty, everyone to his brother, and everyone to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, says the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.

And I will give the men that have transgressed My covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two, and passed between its sections,

the princes of Yehuda, and the princes of Yerushalayim, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the sections of the calf;

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 for food to the birds of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth.

And Żidqiyyahu king of Yehuda and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Bavel’s army, who are gone up from you.

Behold, I will command, says the Lord, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Yehuda a desolation without inhabitant.