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word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, all his army, all the kingdoms of the earth under his control, and all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and all the surrounding cities: 2 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Behold, I am about to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire. 3 As for you, you will not escape from his hand, but you will surely be captured and delivered over to him. You will meet with the king of Babylon eye to eye, and he will speak with you face to face; and you will go to Babylon’.
4 “Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what the Lord says concerning you: ‘You will not die by the sword; 5 but you will die in peace. Then there will be a ceremony for you as for your fathers, the former kings who proceeded you. They will burn incense for you and lament for you, saying, “Alas, O lord!” For I have spoken this word’, declares the Lord” ’.”
6 So Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem 7 while the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and all the remaining cities of Judah—against Lachish and Azekah, for they were the only fortified cities left of all the cities of Judah.
8 This 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 liberty to them, 9 so that each man would set free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female, and no one should hold their Judean brother in bondage. 10 And when the all the officials and all the people had entered into this covenant to free his male and female slaves and not hold them in bondage anymore, they obeyed and set them free. 11 But afterward they changed their minds and took back the male and female slaves they had set free, and brought them into subjection as male and female slaves again.
12 Then 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 with your forefathers on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. I said, 14 “At the end of seven years every man must free his Hebrew brother who has been sold to you. After he has served you six years, you must let him go free from you”. But your fathers did not obey Me or incline their ear. 15 Then you recently turned around and did what was right in My sight, with each man proclaiming freedom for his neighbour. You also made a covenant before Me in the House which is called by My Name. 16 But now you have turned around and profaned My name, for each of you has taken back your male and female slaves, whom you had set free to go where they pleased, and you have brought them back into subjection to become your male and female slaves again’.
17 “Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘You have not obeyed Me by proclaiming freedom, each one for his brother and for his neighbour. Behold, I proclaim freedom for you’, declares the Lord ‘to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine! I will make you a horror to all of the kingdoms of the earth. 18 As for the men who have transgressed My covenant, and did not keep the terms of the covenant they made before Me, I will treat like the calf that they cut in two in order to pass between its pieces. 19 The officials of Judah, the officials of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf; 20 I will give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life. Their dead bodies will become meat for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.
21 ‘As for Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials: I will give them into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which has withdrawn from you. 22 Behold, I am about to give the command’, declares the Lord, ‘and cause them to return to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it with fire. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant’.”