Jeremiah 34
34
Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah
1 #
2 K 25.1-11; 2 Ch 36.17-21. King Nebuchadnezzar#34.1 Nebuchadnezzar: See the note at 21.2. had a large army made up of people from every kingdom in his empire. He and his army were attacking Jerusalem and all the nearby towns, when the Lord told me 2to say to King Zedekiah:#34.2 Zedekiah: See the note at 1.3.
I am the Lord, and I am going to let Nebuchadnezzar capture this city and burn it down. 3You will be taken prisoner and brought to Nebuchadnezzar, and he will speak with you face to face. Then you will be led away to Babylonia.
4Zedekiah, I promise that you won't die in battle. 5You will die a peaceful death. People will mourn when you die, and they will light bonfires in your honor, just as they did for your ancestors, the kings who ruled before you.
6I went to Zedekiah and told him what the Lord had said. 7Meanwhile, the king of Babylonia was trying to break through the walls of Lachish, Azekah, and Jerusalem, the only three towns of Judah that had not been captured.
The People Break a Promise
8-10King Zedekiah,#34.8-10 Zedekiah: See the note at 1.3. his officials, and everyone else in Jerusalem made an agreement to free all Hebrew#34.8-10 Hebrew: An earlier term for Israelite and Jewish. men and women who were slaves. No Jew would keep another as a slave. And so, all the Jewish slaves were given their freedom.
11But those slave owners changed their minds and forced their former slaves back into slavery.
12That's when the Lord told me to say to the people:
13I am the Lord God of Israel, and I made an agreement with your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, where they had been slaves. 14#Ex 21.2; Dt 15.12. As part of this agreement, you must let a Hebrew slave go free after six years of service.
Your ancestors did not obey me, 15-16but you decided to obey me and do the right thing by setting your Hebrew slaves completely free. You even went to my temple, and in my name you made an agreement to set them free. But you have abused my name, because you broke that agreement and forced your former slaves back into slavery.
17You have disobeyed me by not giving your slaves their freedom. So I will give you freedom—the freedom to die in battle or from disease or hunger. I will make you disgusting to all other nations on earth.
18You asked me to be a witness when you made the agreement to set your slaves free. And as part of the ceremony you cut a calf into two parts, then walked between the parts. But you people of Jerusalem have broken that agreement as well as my agreement with Israel. So I will do to you what you did to that calf. 19-20I will let your enemies take all of you prisoner, including the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the royal officials, the priests, and everyone else who walked between the two parts of the calf. These enemies will kill you and leave your bodies lying on the ground as food for birds and wild animals.
21-22These enemies are King Nebuchadnezzar#34.21,22 Nebuchadnezzar: See the note at 21.2. of Babylonia and his army. They have stopped attacking Jerusalem, but they want to kill King Zedekiah and his high officials. So I will command them to return and attack again. This time they will conquer the city and burn it down, and they will capture Zedekiah and his officials. I will also let them destroy the towns of Judah, so that no one can live there any longer.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 34
34
Jeremiah’s Word to King Zedekiah
1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon,#2Kg 25:1; Jr 39:1; 52:4 his whole army, all the kingdoms of the lands under his control,#Jr 1:15 and all other peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding cities: 2“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Go, speak to King Zedekiah of Judah, and tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am about to hand this city over to the king of Babylon,#Jr 32:3,28 and he will burn it. 3As for you, you will not escape#Jr 32:4; 38:18,23; Ezk 17:18; 1Th 5:3 from him but are certain to be captured and handed over to him. You will meet the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak face to face;#34:3 Lit and his mouth will speak to your mouth#Jr 32:4 you will go to Babylon.
4“‘Yet hear the Lord’s word, King Zedekiah of Judah. This is what the Lord says concerning you: You will not die by the sword; 5you will die peacefully. There will be a burning ceremony for you just like the burning ceremonies for your ancestors, the kings of old who came before you.#2Ch 16:14; 21:19 “Oh, master!” will be the lament for you, for I have spoken this word. This is the Lord’s declaration.’”
6So the prophet Jeremiah related all these words to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem 7while the king of Babylon’s army was attacking Jerusalem and all of Judah’s remaining cities — that is, Lachish and Azekah,#Jos 10:3–35 for they were the only ones left of Judah’s fortified cities.
The People and Their Slaves
8This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom#Lv 25:10; Is 61:1; Ezk 46:17 to them. 9As a result, each was to let his male and female Hebrew slaves go free, and no one was to enslave his fellow Judean.#Lv 25:39 10All the officials and people who entered into covenant to let their male and female slaves go free — in order not to enslave them any longer — obeyed and let them go free. 11Afterward, however, they changed their minds and took back their male and female slaves they had let go free and forced them to become slaves again.
12Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 13“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant#Jr 31:32 with your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery, saying, 14‘At the end of seven years, each of you must let his fellow Hebrew who sold himself#34:14 Or who was sold to you go. He may serve you six years, but then you must let him go free from your service.’#Ex 21:2–6; Dt 15:12–17 But your ancestors did not obey me or pay any attention. 15Today you repented and did what pleased me, each of you proclaiming freedom for his neighbor. You made a covenant before me#2Kg 23:3 at the house that bears my name.#Jr 7:10–11 16But you have changed your minds#Jr 34:11 and profaned my name.#Lv 19:12; 22:32; Pr 30:9; Ezk 20:9,14,22; 36:20–23; 39:7; Am 2:7; Mal 1:11–12 Each has taken back his male and female slaves who had been set free to go wherever they wanted, and you have again forced them to be your slaves.
17“Therefore, this is what the Lord says: You have not obeyed me by proclaiming freedom, each for his fellow Hebrew and for his neighbor.#Is 9:19; Jr 31:34; Zch 7:9–10; Mal 2:10 I hereby proclaim freedom for you#Mt 7:2 — this is the Lord’s declaration — to the sword, to plague, and to famine! I will make you a horror to all the earth’s kingdoms.#2Ch 29:8; Jr 15:4; 24:9; 29:18 18As for those who disobeyed my covenant,#Jos 7:11; 2Kg 18:12 not keeping the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat them like the calf they cut in two in order to pass between its pieces.#Gn 15:10,17–18; 1Sm 11:7 19The 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 — 20all these I will hand over to their enemies, to those who intend to take their life. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.#Dt 28:26; Is 18:6; Jr 7:33 21I will hand King Zedekiah of Judah and his officials over to their enemies, to those who intend to take their lives, to the king of Babylon’s army that is withdrawing. 22I am about to give the command — this is the Lord’s declaration — and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it.#Jr 21:10; 34:2; 37:8; 38:18 I will make Judah’s cities a desolation, without inhabitant.”#Jr 4:7; 9:11; 33:10; 44:22; 46:19; 48:9; 51:37
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