Warning to King Zedekiah
Jeremiah 34The word which came to Jeremiah from YHWH, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, with all his army, all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his dominion, and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem and against all its cities, saying: “YHWH, the God of Israel, says, ‘Go, and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, this is what YHWH says, “I am about to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon and he will burn it with fire. You won’t escape out of his hand, but will be captured-captured and delivered into his hand. Your eyes will see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he will speak with you mouth to mouth. You will go to Babylon.”’
“Yet hear the word of YHWH, O Zedekiah king of Judah. YHWH says concerning you, ‘You won’t die by the sword. You will die in peace; and with the burnings of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they will make a burning for you. They will lament you, saying, “Ah Lord!” for I have spoken the word,’ says YHWH.”
Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, when the king of Babylon’s army was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and against Azekah; for these alone remained of the cities of Judah as fortified cities.
Freedom for Slaves
The word came to Jeremiah from YHWH, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem, to proclaim freedom to them, that every man should let his male servant, and every man his female servant, who is a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free, that no one should make bondservants of them, of a Jew his brother. All the princes and all the people obeyed who had entered into the covenant, that everyone should let his male servant and everyone his female servant go free, that no one should make bondservants of them any more. They obeyed and let them go, but afterwards they turned, 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 word of YHWH came to Jeremiah from YHWH, saying, “YHWH, the God of Israel, says: ‘I made a covenant with y’all’s ancestors in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying: At the end of seven years, each of y’all will release their Hebrew sibling, who has been sold to you. After they have served six years, you are to let them go free. But y’all’s ancestors didn’t listen to me, and didn’t incline their ear. Recently, y’all repented and did what is right in my eyes, in every person proclaiming liberty to their neighbor. Y’all had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name, but y’all repented back around and profaned my name, and each one took back their male servant and female servant, whom y’all had set free to their desire. Y’all brought them into subjection, to be to y’all male servants and female servants.’”
Therefore YHWH says: “Y’all have not obeyed me and proclaimed liberty, every person to their sibling and neighbor. Look! I now proclaim liberty to y’all,” says YHWH, “to the sword, to plague, and to famine! I will make y’all a horror among all the kingdoms of the earth. I will give those who 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 parts: the princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf. I will even give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth.
“I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes into the hands of their enemies, into the hands of those who seek their life and into the hands of the king of Babylon’s army, who has withdrawn from y’all. I will give this command,” says YHWH, “and cause them to return to this city. They will fight against it, take it, and burn it with fire. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”