God warns Zedekiah

34 The Lord spoke to Jeremiah again, while King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his army were attacking Jerusalem. Soldiers from all the kingdoms that King Nebuchadnezzar ruled joined with Babylon's own soldiers to make a large army. They were attacking Jerusalem and the towns around it. ² The Lord, Israel's God, said to Jeremiah, ‘Go to Zedekiah, king of Judah, and give him this message: The Lord says, “I will put this city under the power of the king of Babylon. He will burn it down. ³ You will not be able to escape. Babylon's soldiers will certainly take hold of you. They will take you to the king of Babylon. You will have to stand in front of the king of Babylon and answer his questions. Then you will go to Babylon as his prisoner.

⁴ But listen to the promise that the Lord makes to you, Zedekiah, king of Judah. I, the Lord, promise you that you will not die in a battle. ⁵ Instead, you will die with peace in your mind. People will burn incense to give you honour when they bury you. They did that for your ancestors who ruled as kings before you. They will do it for you too. When you die, people will weep because they are sad. They will say, ‘This is terrible! Our king has died!’ That is my promise to you, says the Lord.” ’

⁶ The prophet Jeremiah told all this to King Zedekiah of Judah, in Jerusalem. ⁷ This happened when the king of Babylon's army were attacking Jerusalem and the cities of Lachish and Azekah. Those were the only strong cities in Judah that were not yet under his power.

King Zedekiah and the slaves

⁸ At another time, the Lord gave Jeremiah another message for King Zedekiah. Zedekiah had made an agreement with the people of Jerusalem. They all agreed to let their slaves go free. ⁹ Everyone in Judah who had a Hebrew slave must let their slave go free, both male and female slaves. Nobody should keep another Israelite person as their slave. ¹⁰ All the officers and the people agreed with the king that they would do this. They would not continue to have male or female slaves. They let them go free, as they had promised. ¹¹ But later, they decided that they would not do that. They took the men and women back to work for them as slaves again. They forced them to do that.

¹² Then the Lord said to Jeremiah, ¹³ ‘The Lord, Israel's God, says this to the people: I made a covenant with your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt. They had been slaves when they were there. ¹⁴ I told them, “When any Hebrew slave has worked for you for six years, you must let them go free. In the seventh year after they sold themselves to you, you must set them free.”^[a] But your ancestors did not listen to me. They did not obey me. ¹⁵ But now, you yourselves agreed to do what pleases me. You decided to obey me. You made a serious agreement with me in the temple which is my home. You let your slaves go free. ¹⁶ But now you have turned back to your old ways. You have refused to give me honour. You had let your slaves go free, as they wanted to do. But now you have forced them to work for you as your slaves again.

¹⁷ So I, the Lord, tell you this: You have not obeyed me. You have not let your Israelite slaves become free men and women. So now I will make you free! Yes, you will be free to let war, famine or disease kill you. People of all the kingdoms in the world will see how disgusting you are. ¹⁸ I will punish the people who did not obey the agreement that they made with me. When they made that agreement, they cut a young cow into two pieces and they walked between the pieces. Because they have not obeyed their agreement, I will now cut them into pieces, like the young cow.^[b]

¹⁹ I will punish the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the king's officers and the priests. I will punish all the people of Judah who refused to obey the agreement that they made with me. ²⁰ I will put them under the power of their enemies. Their enemies will kill them. Birds and wild animals will eat their dead bodies as food.

²¹ I will also put King Zedekiah of Judah and his officers under the power of their enemies. Their enemies will want to kill them. The king of Babylon's army has stopped attacking Jerusalem for a time. But I will put King Zedekiah and his officers under their power. ²² I will command Babylon's army to return to this city. They will fight against it and they will take it. They will burn the city down. I will also cause the other towns of Judah to become heaps of stones. Nobody will live in them any more.’