Jeremiah 34

Freedom to the Slaves

34GOD's Message to Jeremiah at the time King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon mounted an all-out attack on Jerusalem and all the towns around it with his armies and allies and everyone he could muster:H1697H3414H3068H5019H4428H894H2428H4467H776H3027H4475H5971H3898H3389H5892H5592"I, GOD, the God of Israel, direct you to go and tell Zedekiah king of Judah: 'This is GOD's Message. Listen to me. I am going to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he is going to burn it to the ground.H559H3068H430H3478H1980H559H6667H4428H3063H559H559H3068H5414H5892H3027H4428H894H8313H7843And don't think you'll get away. You'll be captured and be his prisoner. You will have a personal confrontation with the king of Babylon and be taken off with him, captive, to Babylon.H4422H3027H8610H8610H5414H3027H5869H7200H5869H4428H894H1696H6310H6310H935H8944"'But listen, O Zedekiah king of Judah, to the rest of the Message of GOD. You won't be killed.H8085H1697H3068H6667H4428H3063H559H3068H4191H27195You'll die a peaceful death. They will honor you with funeral rites as they honored your ancestors, the kings who preceded you. They will properly mourn your death, weeping, "Master, master!" This is a solemn promise. GOD's Decree.'"H4191H7965H4955H1H7223H4428H6440H8313H5594H1945H113H1696H1697H5002H30686The prophet Jeremiah gave this Message to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, gave it to him word for word.H3414H5030H1696H1697H6667H4428H3063H33897It was at the very time that the king of Babylon was mounting his all-out attack on Jerusalem and whatever cities in Judah that were still standing—only Lachish and Azekah, as it turned out (they were the only fortified cities left in Judah).H4428H894H2428H3898H3389H5892H3063H3498H3923H5825H4013H5892H7604H5892H30638GOD delivered a Message to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah made a covenant with the people of Jerusalem to decree freedomH1697H3414H3068H310H4428H6667H3772H1285H5971H3389H7121H18659to the slaves who were Hebrews, both men and women. The covenant stipulated that no one in Judah would own a fellow Jew as a slave.H376H5650H376H8198H5680H5680H7971H2670H5647H3064H25110All the leaders and people who had signed the covenant set free the slaves, men and women alike.H8269H5971H935H1285H8085H376H5650H376H8198H7971H2670H5647H8085H797111But a little while later, they reneged on the covenant, broke their promise and forced their former slaves to become slaves again.H310H7725H5650H8198H7971H2670H7725H3533H3533H5650H819812Then Jeremiah received this Message from GOD:H1697H3068H3414H3068H55913"GOD, the God of Israel, says, 'I made a covenant with your ancestors when I delivered them out of their slavery in Egypt. At the time I made it clear:H559H3068H430H3478H3772H1285H1H3117H3318H776H4714H1004H5650H55914"At the end of seven years, each of you must free any fellow Hebrew who has had to sell himself to you. After he has served six years, set him free." But your ancestors totally ignored me.H7093H7651H8141H7971H376H251H5680H4376H5647H8337H8141H7971H2670H1H8085H5186H24115"'And now, you—what have you done? First you turned back to the right way and did the right thing, decreeing freedom for your brothers and sisters—and you made it official in a solemn covenant in my Temple.H3117H7725H6213H3477H5869H7121H1865H376H7453H3772H1285H6440H1004H7121H803416And then you turned right around and broke your word, making a mockery of both me and the covenant, and made them all slaves again, these men and women you'd just set free. You forced them back into slavery.H7725H2490H8034H376H5650H376H8198H7971H2670H5315H7725H3533H5650H819817"'So here is what I, GOD, have to say: You have not obeyed me and set your brothers and sisters free. Here is what I'm going to do: I'm going to set you free—GOD's Decree—free to get killed in war or by disease or by starvation. I'll make you a spectacle of horror. People all over the world will take one look at you and shudder.H559H3068H8085H7121H1865H376H251H376H7453H7121H1865H5002H3068H2719H1698H7458H5414H2189H2113H4467H77618Everyone who violated my covenant, who didn't do what was solemnly promised in the covenant ceremony when they split the young bull into two halves and walked between them,H5414H582H5674H1285H6965H1697H1285H3772H6440H3772H5695H8147H5674H133519all those people that day who walked between the two halves of the bull—leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, palace officials, priests, and all the rest of the people—H8269H3063H8269H3389H5631H3548H5971H776H5674H1335H569520I'm handing the lot of them over to their enemies who are out to kill them. Their dead bodies will be carrion food for vultures and stray dogs.H5414H3027H341H3027H1245H5315H5038H3978H5775H8064H929H77621"'As for Zedekiah king of Judah and his palace staff, I'll also hand them over to their enemies, who are out to kill them. The army of the king of Babylon has pulled back for a time,H6667H4428H3063H8269H5414H3027H341H3027H1245H5315H3027H4428H894H2428H592722but not for long, for I'm going to issue orders that will bring them back to this city. They'll attack and take it and burn it to the ground. The surrounding cities of Judah will fare no better. I'll turn them into ghost towns, unlivable and unlived in.'" GOD's Decree.H6680H5002H3068H7725H5892H3898H3920H8313H784H5414H5892H3063H8077H3427