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Warning to Zedekiah
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:
34:5 But 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.
Freedom for Slaves
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;
34:9 That 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.
34:10 Now 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.
34:11 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:
34:16 But 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.
34:17 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;
34:20 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. |
Cults 
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