Jeremiah:34

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* 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 , * 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 : * 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 . * 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 : * 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 . * Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem , * When the king of Babylon 's army fought against Jerusalem , and against all the cities of Judah that were left , against Lachish , and against Azekah : for these fortified cities remained of the cities of Judah . * 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 ; * 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 . * 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 . * 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 . * Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD , saying , * 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 , * 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 . * 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 : * 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 . * 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 . * 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 , * 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 ; * 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 . * 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 . * 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 .

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