KJ3 Literal Translation
Jeremiah 34
Jeremiah prophesies the captivity of Zedekiah and the city. The rulers and the people freed their slaves, but contrary to the covenant of Jehovah, took them again. Jeremiah, for this, gives them into the enemies' hands.
1The Word which was to Jeremiah from Jehovah when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth (because his hand rules), and all the peoples fought against Jerusalem, and against all its cities, saying,
2So says Jehovah, the God of Israel: Go and speak to Zedekiah, king of Judah, and say to him, So says Jehovah, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.
3And you shall not escape out of his hand, but seizing shall be seized and delivered into his hand. And your eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak, his mouth with your mouth; and you shall go to Babylon.
4Yet hear the Word of Jehovah, O Zedekiah, king of Judah: So says Jehovah concerning you, You shall not die by the sword.
5You shall die in peace. And as the burnings of spices for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they shall burn spices for you, saying, Ah, lord! They will wail for you. For I have spoken the Word, a statement of Jehovah.
6And Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah, king of Judah, in Jerusalem,
7when the king of Babylon's army fought against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that remained; against Lachish, and against Azekah; for these fortified cities remained among the cities of Judah.
8The Word that was to Jeremiah from Jehovah after King Zedekiah had cut a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them,
9that each man should let go his male slave, and each man his female slave, if a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, to go free, that not any should enslave a Jew, a man, his brother among them.
10And all the rulers obeyed, and all the people who had entered into the covenant to let go free each man his male slave, and each man his female slave; so that not one should enslave among them again; and they obeyed and let them go.
11But afterward they turned and caused to return the male slaves and the female slaves whom they sent away free. And they subjected them for male slaves and for female slaves.
12Therefore the Word of Jehovah was to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,
13So says Jehovah, the God of Israel: I cut a covenant with your fathers in the day I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying,
14At the end of seven years each man should let go his brother who is a Hebrew, who has been sold to him. When he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you. But your fathers did not listen to Me and did not stretch out their ear.
15And you turned today, and you did right in My eyes, to call for liberty, each man to his neighbor. And you cut a covenant before Me in the house on which is called My name.
16But you turned and profaned My name, and each man caused his male slave, and each man his female slave, to return whom you had sent away according to their desire. And you subjected them to be slaves and female slaves to you.
17So Jehovah says this: You have not listened to Me, to call for liberty, each man to his brother, and each man to his neighbor. Behold, I call for freedom to you, a statement of Jehovah: to the sword, to the plague, and to the famine. And I will give you to be a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
18And I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not stood on the words of the covenant which they have cut with Me when they cut the calf in two, and passed between its pieces,
19the rulers of Judah and the rulers of Jerusalem, the eunuchs and the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf;
20I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those seeking their life. And their corpses shall be for food to the birds of the heavens, and to the beasts of the earth.
21And I will give Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his rulers, into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those seeking their life, even into the hand of the king of Babylon's army that has gone up from you.
22Behold, I will command and cause them to return to this city, a statement of Jehovah. And they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire. And I will make the cities of Judah to be a desolation,without one to live in it.
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