Jeremiah

To Zedekiah

This was the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah when Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, along with his army, and all the kingdoms under his rule, and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah.

This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: “Go and tell Zedekiah, king of Judah: ‘See, I am giving this city to the king of Babylon, and he will set it on fire.

You will not escape his grasp but will definitely be captured and handed over to him. You will see him face to face, speak directly to him, and then be taken to Babylon.’

Listen carefully, Zedekiah, king of Judah, to what the Lord says about you: “You will not die by the sword;

instead, you will die peacefully. As they made funeral pyres for your ancestors, the former kings, they will build a fire in your honor and mourn, ‘Alas, my master!’—says the Lord.”

Then Jeremiah the prophet delivered this message to Zedekiah, king of Judah, in Jerusalem.

This was when the army of the king of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem and the cities of Lachish and Azekah. These cities were the last strongholds of Judah still resisting the attack.

Liberation of Slaves

The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah made a treaty with all the people of Jerusalem to declare freedom for the slaves.

Everyone was to free their Hebrew slaves, both male and female, so that no fellow Jew would remain in bondage.

The princes and all the citizens agreed to this, made a treaty, and freed them.

However, they later changed their minds and brought back the slaves they had freed, using them as slaves again.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah,

saying: “The Lord, the God of Israel, declares: I made a covenant with your ancestors on the day I brought them out of Egypt, from the land of slavery, and I said:

‘At the end of every seven years you must set free any Hebrew who has sold themselves to you and has served you for six years. You are to release them, set them free from your service.’ But your ancestors did not listen or pay attention.

Recently, you repented and did what was right in my sight when you each proclaimed liberty to one another, and you made a covenant with me in the house where my name dwells.

But now, you have returned to your way and profaned my name. You’ve brought back your slaves—male and female—to whom you had previously granted complete freedom—and you have once again put them into slavery.

That is why the Lord says: Since you have not obeyed me in proclaiming freedom for your fellow citizens and neighbors, I now proclaim ‘freedom’ for you—freedom to fall by the sword, plague, and famine. I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

Those who violate my covenant and do not observe the terms of the treaty they made before me, I will compare them to the calf they cut in two and walked between its halves.

The princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the people of the land who walked between the pieces of the calf—

I will hand them over to their enemies. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the land.

Zedekiah and his officials, I will hand over to their enemies. You saw the army of the king of Babylon withdrawing from you.

But now I am ordering them to return to this city. They will attack and capture the city and set it on fire. As for the towns of Judah, I will reduce them to a wasteland without inhabitants.”