1 The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, when Nebuchadnezzar
king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth that
were under his dominion, and all the peoples, were fighting against
Jerusalem, and against all the cities of it, saying: 2 Thus says Yahweh,
the God of Israel, Go, and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him,
Thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of
Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire: 3 and you shall not escape out of
his hand, but shall surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and your
eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with you
mouth to mouth, and you shall go to Babylon. 4 Yet hear the word of
Yahweh, O Zedekiah king of Judah: thus says Yahweh concerning you, You shall
not die by the sword; 5 you shall die in peace; and with the burnings of
your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so shall they make a
burning for you; and they shall lament you, saying, Ah Lord! for I
have spoken the word, says Yahweh. 6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all
these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, 7 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.
8 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, after that the king Zedekiah
had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem, to proclaim
liberty to them; 9 that every man should let his man-servant, and every
man his maid-servant, who is a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free; that none
should make bondservants of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother.
10 All the princes and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the
covenant, that everyone should let his man-servant, and everyone his
maid-servant, go free, that none should make bondservants of them any more;
they obeyed, and let them go: 11 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. 12 Therefore
the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying, 13 Thus says
Yahweh, the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day
that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of
bondage, saying, 14 At the end of seven years you shall let go every
man his brother who is a Hebrew, who has been sold to you, and has served you
six years, you shall let him go free from you: but your fathers didn’t listen
to me, neither inclined their ear. 15 You were now turned, and had
done that which is right in my eyes, in proclaiming liberty every man to his
neighbor; and you had made a covenant before me in the house which is
called by my name: 16 but you turned and profaned my name, and caused
every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom you had let go
free at their pleasure, to return; and you brought them into subjection,
to be to you for servants and for handmaids. 17 Therefore thus says
Yahweh: you have not listened to me, to proclaim liberty, every man to
his brother, and every man to his neighbor: behold, I proclaim to you a
liberty, says Yahweh, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and
I will make you to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the
earth. 18 I will give the men 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 the parts of it; 19 the princes of
Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all
the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf; 20 I
will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of
those who seek their life; and their dead bodies shall be for food to the
birds of the sky, and to the animals of the earth. 21 Zedekiah king of
Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into
the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of
Babylon’s army, who have gone away from you. 22 Behold, I will command,
says Yahweh, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight
against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of
Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.
World English Bible - Public Domain |
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