Jeremiah Chapter 34

¹ A Message from the LORD to Jeremiah

When Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon

and His Army and the Kingdoms He Ruled Were

Fighting Jerusalem and Surrounding Towns

A Warning to Zedekiah

² Go tell Zedekiah, king of Judah, that the LORD says, “I’m giving this city to the king of Babylon, and he’ll burn it. ³ You’ll be captured and turned over to him. You’ll see him in person, he’ll speak to you directly, and you’ll go to Babylon.” ⁴ But listen to the LORD, Zedekiah! “You won’t die by the sword; ⁵ you’ll die in peace. As they burned spices for the kings before you, they’ll burn spices and lament, ‘Ah, lord!’ for you. I’ve spoken.”

⁶ That’s what Jeremiah told Zedekiah ⁷ while Babylon’s army was fighting Jerusalem, Lachish, and Azekah, the only fortified cities left in Judah.

Jer 34:1-7

⁸ A Message from the LORD to Jeremiah

After King Zedekiah Made an Agreement

with the People in Jerusalem to Declare Liberty

Freedom for Hebrew Slaves

⁹ Each man was to free his Hebrew male and female slaves so nobody would enslave a fellow Jewish. ¹⁰ The officials and the people obeyed and agreed not to hold them as slaves any longer. ¹¹ But afterward they went back on their word and brought their freed slave back into subjection.                                                                                                                                           

Jer 34:8-11

¹² Then a message from the LORD came to Jeremiah:

¹³ The LORD God of Israel says, “I made a covenant with your ancestors when I brought them out of bondage in Egypt. ¹⁴ At the end of seven years, set your fellow Hebrew free that’s been sold to you. But your ancestors didn’t obey me. ¹⁵ Recently you changed and did what was right. You freed your fellow citizen and made a covenant in my presence. ¹⁶ But you’ve gone back on your word and profaned my name. You’ve enslaved again the slaves you’d freed.        

Jer 34:12-16

¹⁷ “You haven’t obeyed me by releasing your brother and fellow citizen; so I’m releasing you to sword, famine, and disease. I’ll make you something other kingdoms abhor. ^18-20 The ones that didn’t keep that covenant, I’ll release to their enemies that want to kill them: officials in Judah and Jerusalem, court officers, priests, and common people who cut a calf in two and passed between its parts. Their dead bodies will feed the buzzards from the sky and scavengers on the ground. ²¹ I’ll deliver Zedekiah and his officials to their enemies, ²² and direct them to attack this city again, burn it, and fill Judah with ghost towns.”                            Jer 34:17-22