1The word which came unto Jeremiah from Yahuah (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,
2Thus says Yahuah (LORD), the Elohim (God) of Yashar'el (Israel); Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Yahudah (Judah), and tell him, Thus says Yahuah (LORD); Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:
3And you shall not escape out of his hand, but shall surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and your eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with you mouth to mouth, and you shall go to Babylon.
4Yet hear the word of Yahuah (LORD), O Zedekiah king of Yahudah (Judah); Thus says Yahuah (LORD) of you, You shall not die by the sword:
5But you shall die in peace: and with the burnings of your fathers, the former kings which were before you, so shall they burn odours for you; and they will lament you, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, says Yahuah (LORD).
6Then Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Yahudah (Judah) in Jerusalem,
7When the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Yahudah (Judah) that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these defenced cities remained of the cities of Yahudah (Judah).
8This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from Yahuah (LORD), after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them;
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 Yahudi (Jew) his brother.
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.
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.
12Therefore the word of Yahuah (LORD) came to Jeremiah from Yahuah (LORD), saying,
13Thus says Yahuah (LORD), the Elohim (God) of Yashar'el (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,
14At the end of seven years let you go every man his brother an Hebrew, which has been sold unto you; and when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear.
15And you were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and you had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name:
16But you turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom you had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids.
17Therefore thus says Yahuah (LORD); You 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, says Yahuah (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.
18And 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,
19The princes of Yahudah (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;
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.
21And Zedekiah king of Yahudah (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.
22Behold, I will command, says Yahuah (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 Yahudah (Judah) a desolation without an inhabitant.