Jeremiah 34 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

This is the message that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh while Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his entire army — along with all the kingdoms and peoples under his control — were attacking Jerusalem and all its surrounding towns:

"Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah. Tell him, 'This is what Yahweh says: Look — I am handing this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down.

You yourself will not escape his grasp — you will definitely be captured and handed over to him. You will see the king of Babylon face to face, and he will speak to you directly. Then you will be taken to Babylon.'

"But listen to Yahweh's promise, Zedekiah king of Judah: This is what Yahweh says about you — you will not die by the sword.

You will die peacefully. And just as people burned spices to honor your ancestors — the kings who came before you — they will burn spices for you too, and they will mourn for you, saying, 'Oh, master!' This is my declaration," says Yahweh.

So Jeremiah the prophet told all of this to Zedekiah king of Judah, in Jerusalem,

while the king of Babylon's army was attacking Jerusalem and the remaining fortified cities of Judah — Lachish and Azekah. These were the only fortified cities of Judah still standing.

This is the message that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to announce a release for slaves:

Everyone was to set free their Hebrew slaves — both male and female — so that no one would keep a fellow Judean in slavery.

All the officials and all the people who had entered into the covenant agreed to set free their male and female slaves and no longer keep them in servitude. They agreed and let them go.

But afterward they changed their minds. They took back the slaves they had freed and forced them back into servitude.

Then this message from Yahweh came to Jeremiah:

"This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, out of that place of slavery. I said,

'At the end of every seven years, each of you must set free any fellow Hebrew who has sold themselves to you. After they have served you six years, you must let them go free.' But your ancestors did not listen to me or pay any attention.

Recently you changed your minds and did what was right in my eyes — each of you announced freedom for your neighbor. You even made a covenant before me in the house that bears my name.

But then you turned around and dishonored my name. Each of you took back the slaves you had set free — men and women who had been released to live as they wished — and you forced them to be your slaves again.

So this is what Yahweh says: You have not listened to me — you did not announce freedom for your own people, your own neighbors. So watch: I am announcing 'freedom' for you — this is Yahweh's declaration — 'freedom' to fall to the sword, to disease, and to famine. I will make you a horrifying example to every kingdom on earth.

I will treat the people who violated my covenant — who did not keep the terms of the agreement they made before me — like the calf they cut in two and walked between.

The leaders of Judah and the leaders of 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, to those who want them dead. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and the animals of the earth.

And Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials — I will hand them over to their enemies, to those who want them dead, to the army of the king of Babylon that has pulled back from you.

Watch — I am giving the order, declares Yahweh, and I will bring them back to this city. They will attack it, capture it, and burn it to the ground. I will turn the towns of Judah into an empty wasteland where no one lives.