1The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth under the dominion of his hand, and all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and against all its cities, saying:
2Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and say to him: Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.
3And you yourself will not escape from his hand, but you will surely be seized and given into his hand; your eyes will see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and his mouth will speak with your mouth, and you will go to Babylon.
4Yet hear the word of Yahweh, O Zedekiah king of Judah. Thus says Yahweh concerning you: You will not die by the sword.
5In peace you will die; and as with the burnings for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they will make a burning for you, and ‘Alas, lord!’ they will lament for you; for I myself have spoken the word, declares Yahweh.
6And Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem,
7while the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that remained, against Lachish and against Azekah; for these alone remained of the cities of Judah, fortified cities.
8The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after King Zedekiah had cut a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem, to proclaim to them a release,
9that each should send away free his male slave and each his female slave, the Hebrew man and the Hebrew woman, so that no one should hold in service a Judean, his kinsman.
10And all the officials and all the people who had entered into the covenant to send away free each his male slave and each his female slave, so as no longer to hold them in service, obeyed; they obeyed and sent them away.
11But afterward they turned back and brought back the male slaves and the female slaves whom they had sent away free, and subjugated them as male slaves and female slaves.
12Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying:
13Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: I myself cut a covenant with your fathers on the day I brought them out from the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves, saying:
14At the end of seven years each of you shall send away his Hebrew kinsman who has been sold to you and has served you six years; you shall send him away free from you. But your fathers did not listen to me and did not incline their ear.
15And you had turned back today and done what is right in my eyes, each proclaiming release to his neighbor; and you had cut a covenant before me in the house over which my name is called.
16But then you turned back and profaned my name, and each of you brought back his male slave and his female slave, whom you had sent away free to their own selves, and you subjugated them to be your male slaves and female slaves.
17Therefore thus says Yahweh: You have not listened to me to proclaim release, each to his kinsman and each to his neighbor. Behold, I am proclaiming to you a release, declares Yahweh—to the sword, to the plague, and to the famine; and I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
18And I will make the men who transgressed my covenant, who did not uphold the words of the covenant that they cut before me—the calf that they cut in two, and they passed between its pieces—
19the officials of Judah and the officials of Jerusalem, the court officials and the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the pieces of the calf—
20I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life, and their corpses will become food for the birds of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth.
21And Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon that is withdrawing from you.
22Behold, I am giving the command, declares Yahweh, and I will bring them back to this city, and they will fight against it and capture it and burn it with fire; and the cities of Judah I will make a desolation, without inhabitant.
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