A Prophecy against Zedekiah 1 WBS The word which came to 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 its cities, saying, BSB BSB: This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, all his army, all the earthly kingdoms under his control, and all the other nations were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding cities.
2 WBS 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: BSB BSB: The LORD, the God of Israel, told Jeremiah to go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him that this is what the LORD says: “Behold, I am about to deliver this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down.
3 WBS And thou shalt not escape from his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thy 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. BSB BSB: And you yourself will not escape his grasp, but will surely be captured and delivered into his hand. You will see the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak with him face to face; and you will go to Babylon.
4 WBS Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith the LORD concerning thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword: BSB BSB: Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what the LORD says concerning you: You will not die by the sword;
5 WBS But thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings who were before thee, so shall they burn odors for thee; and they will lament thee, saying , Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the LORD.BSB BSB: you will die in peace. As spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who preceded you, so people will burn spices for you and lament, ‘Alas, O master!’ For I Myself have spoken this word, declares the LORD.”
6 WBS Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, BSB BSB: In Jerusalem, then, Jeremiah the prophet relayed all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah
Freedom for Hebrew Slaves 8 WBS This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them;BSB BSB: After King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim liberty, the word came to Jeremiah from the LORD
9 WBS That every man should liberate his man-servant, and every man his maid-servant, being a Hebrew or a Hebrewess; that none should retain them in service, to wit , a Jew his brother. BSB BSB: that each man should free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female, and no one should hold his fellow Jew in bondage.
10 WBS Now when all the princes, and all the people who had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should liberate his man-servant, and every one his maid-servant, that none should retain them in service any more, then they obeyed, and let them go. BSB BSB: So all the officials and all the people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their menservants and maidservants and no longer hold them in bondage. They obeyed and released them,
11 WBS But afterwards they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had liberated, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids. BSB BSB: but later they changed their minds and took back the menservants and maidservants they had freed, and they forced them to become slaves again.
12 WBS Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, BSB BSB: Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
13 WBS Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth from the land of Egypt, out of the house of bond-men, saying, BSB BSB: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your forefathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying:
14 WBS At the end of seven years dismiss ye every man his brother a Hebrew, who hath been sold to thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not to me, neither inclined their ear. BSB BSB: Every seventh year, each of you must free his Hebrew brother who has sold himself to you. He may serve you six years, but then you must let him go free. But your fathers did not listen or incline their ear.
15 WBS And ye had now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name: BSB BSB: Recently you repented and did what pleased Me; each of you proclaimed freedom for his neighbor. You made a covenant before Me in the house that bears My Name.
16 WBS But ye turned and profaned 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 to you for servants and for handmaids. BSB BSB: But now you have changed your minds and profaned My name. Each of you has taken back the menservants and maidservants whom you had set at liberty to go wherever they wanted, and you have again forced them to be your slaves.
17 WBS Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened to me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbor: 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. BSB BSB: Therefore this is what the LORD says: You have not obeyed Me; you have not proclaimed freedom, each man for his brother and for his neighbor. So now I proclaim freedom for you, declares the LORD—freedom to fall by sword, by plague, and by famine! I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
18 WBS And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in two, and passed between the parts of it, BSB BSB: And those who have transgressed My covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before Me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two in order to pass between its pieces.
19 WBS The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf; BSB BSB: The officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf,
20 WBS 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 food to the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth. BSB BSB: I will deliver into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.
21 WBS And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes I will 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. BSB BSB: And I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives, to the army of the king of Babylon that had withdrawn from you.
22 WBS 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. BSB BSB: Behold, I am going to give the command, declares the LORD, and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it down. And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”