34:1
The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his
dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the
cities thereof, saying,
34:2
Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah,
and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the
hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:
34:3
And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and
delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of
Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to
Babylon.
34:4
Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith the
LORD of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword:
(34:4-5) "Zedekiah ... thou shalt not die by the sword: But thou shalt die in peace:
and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee."
God tells Zedekiah that he will die in peace and be buried with his fathers.
But later (2 Kg.25:7 and Jer.39:6-9, 52:10-11)
he dies a violent death in a foreign land.
34:5But thou shalt die
in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which
were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will
lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the
LORD.
34:6
Then Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of
Judah in Jerusalem,
34:7
When the king of Babylon's army fought against Jerusalem, and against all
the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for
these defenced cities remained of the cities of Judah.
34:8
This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the
king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at
Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them;
(34:8-16) For some strange reason, God tells the people to do something good: free their slaves.
And the people do that, for a while, anyway. But then they enslaved them again.
(34:8) "Proclaim liberty unto them; That every man should let his manservant,
and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free."
(Too bad about the "being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess" part.)
34:9That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant,
being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of
them, to wit, of a Jew his brother.
34:10Now when all the princes, and all
the people, which had entered into the
covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his
maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more,
then they obeyed, and let them go.
(34:10) "Now when ... the people ... heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his
maidservant, go free, ... they obeyed, and let them go."
34:11But afterward 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.
(34:11) "But afterward 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."
34:12
Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
34:13
Thus saith the LORD, 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 bondmen, saying,
34:14
At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew, which
hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt
let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither
inclined their ear.
34:15
And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight,
in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in
the house which is called by my name:
(34:15) "Ye ... had done right ... in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour."
34:16But ye turned and polluted my name, and
caused every man his servant, and
every man his handmaid, whom he had set at liberty at their pleasure, to
return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and
for handmaids.
(34:16) "But ye ... caused every man his servant, and
every man his handmaid, whom he had set at liberty at their pleasure, to
return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and
for handmaids."
34:17Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in
proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his
neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the
sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be
removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.
(34:17-20)
To punish the people for refusing to free their slaves, God over-reacts (just a tad) by
threatening to send the sword, pestilence, and
famine, saying he'll feed their dead bodies to the fowls and beasts of the earth.
(34:17) "Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother,
and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the
famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth."
34:18
And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not
performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they
cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof,
34:19
The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the
priests, and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of
the calf;
34:20I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of
them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the
fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth.
(34:20) "I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of
them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the
fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth."
34:21
And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of
their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the
hand of the king of Babylon's army, which are gone up from you.
34:22
Behold, I will command, saith the LORD, 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 an inhabitant.
