Jeremiah 34

All 22 verses in the Clear Bible Translation. Tap a verse to compare the KJV and read what it means.

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1. 1The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, with his entire army, and all the kingdoms of the earth under his dominion, and all their peoples, fought against Jerusalem and all its cities, saying,
2. 2The LORD, the God of Israel, said: "Go speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him that the LORD says, 'I am going to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.'"
3. 3You will not escape from his hand, but will surely be taken and handed over to him. Your eyes will see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he will speak with you face to face, and you will go to Babylon.
4. 4"But listen to the LORD's word, Zedekiah king of Judah. The LORD says this about you: You will not die by the sword.
5. 5You will die in peace. And as they burned spices for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so will they burn spices for you. And they will mourn for you, saying, "Ah, lord!" For I have spoken the word, says the LORD.
6. 6Jeremiah the prophet delivered all of these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem.
7. 7This was while the Babylonian army was attacking Jerusalem and the remaining fortified cities of Judah—Lachish and Azekah. These were the only fortified cities left in Judah.
8. 8The LORD spoke to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim liberty to them.
9. 9That every man should let his male servant and every man his female servant, being a Hebrew or a Hebrew woman, go free, so that no one should make a servant of them — of a Jew, his brother.
10. 10All the officials and all the people who had entered into this covenant agreed to it. They freed their male and female slaves and no longer forced them to serve. They obeyed and let them go.
11. 11But later they changed their minds. They dragged back the men and women they had freed and forced them into slavery again.
12. 12Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
13. 13"The LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'I made a covenant with your ancestors on the day I brought them out of Egypt, out of the land where they were slaves. I told them,
14. 14"Every 7 years, each of you must free any fellow Hebrew who has been sold to you. After they have served you for 6 years, you must let them go free." But your ancestors refused to listen to me or pay any attention.
15. 15Recently, you did what was right in my eyes. Each of you proclaimed freedom for your neighbor, and you made a covenant before me in the house that bears my name.
16. 16But you turned and defiled my name, and made each man his male servant and each man his female servant, whom you had set free as they wished, return, and brought them into subjection to be your servants and female servants.
17. 17Therefore this is what the LORD says: You have not obeyed me in proclaiming freedom, each one to his brother and every man to his neighbor. Look, I proclaim freedom for you, says the LORD — to the sword, to the plague, and to the famine. And I will scatter you among all the kingdoms of the earth.
18. 18The people who broke my covenant — who failed to keep the terms of the agreement they made before me when they cut a calf in two and walked between its halves —
19. 19the princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who walked between the parts of the calf —
20. 20I will hand all of them over to their enemies, to those who want them dead. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and the wild animals.
21. 21I will also hand Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials over to their enemies, to those who want them dead, and to the Babylonian army — the same army that has just pulled back from you.
22. 22I am going to give the order," declares the LORD, "and bring them back to this city. They will attack it, capture it, and burn it with fire. I will turn the cities of Judah into an empty wasteland where no one lives."