Jeremiah 34:1-35:19

ACV^{(i) 1} The word which came to Jeremiah from LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his dominion, and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying, ² Thus says LORD, the God of Israel: Go, and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus says LORD: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire. ³ And thou shall not escape out of his hand, but shall surely be taken, and delivered into his hand. And thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shall go to Babylon. ⁴ Yet hear the word of LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah. Thus says LORD concerning thee, Thou shall not die by the sword; ⁵ thou shall die in peace. And with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings who were before thee, so shall they make a burning for thee. And they shall lament thee, saying, Ah lord! For I have spoken the word, says LORD. ⁶ Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah, king of Judah in Jerusalem, ⁷ when the king of Babylon's army was fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and against Azekah, for these alone remained of the cities of Judah, fortified cities. ⁸ The word that came to Jeremiah from LORD, after the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them, ⁹ that every man should let his man-servant, and every man his maid-servant, who is a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free, that none should make bondmen of them, namely, of a Jew his brother. ¹⁰ And all the rulers and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the covenant, that everyone should let his man-servant, and everyone his maid-servant, go free, that none should make bondmen of them any more. They obeyed, and let them go. ¹¹ But afterwards they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids. ¹² Therefore the word of LORD came to Jeremiah from LORD, saying, ¹³ Thus says LORD, the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying, ¹⁴ At the end of seven years ye shall let go every man his brother who is a Hebrew, who has been sold to thee, and has served thee six years. Thou shall let him go free from thee. But your fathers hearkened not to me, nor inclined their ear. ¹⁵ And ye were now turned, and had done that which is right in my eyes, 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. ¹⁶ But ye turned and profaned my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom ye had let go free at their pleasure, to return. And ye brought them into subjection, to be to you for servants and for handmaids. ¹⁷ Therefore thus says LORD: Ye have not hearkened to me, to proclaim liberty, every man to his brother, and every man to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim to you a liberty, says LORD-to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine. And I will make you to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸ And I will give the men who have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it, ¹⁹ the rulers of Judah, and the rulers of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf, ²⁰ I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life. And their dead bodies shall be for food to the birds of the heavens, and to the beasts of the earth. ²¹ And I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, and his rulers, into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army that has gone away from you. ²² Behold, I will command, says 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 inhabitant. ^{35 1} The word which came to Jeremiah from LORD in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, ² Go to the house of the Rechabites, and speak to them, and bring them into the house of LORD, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink. ³ Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites. ⁴ And I brought them into the house of LORD, into the chamber of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was by the chamber of the rulers, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the threshold. ⁵ And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine, and cups, and I said to them, Drink ye wine. ⁶ But they said, We will drink no wine. For Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons, forever. ⁷ Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any, but all your days ye shall dwell in tents, that ye may live many days in the land in which ye sojourn. ⁸ And we have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, or our daughters, ⁹ nor to build houses for us to dwell in. Neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed, ¹⁰ but we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. ¹¹ But it came to pass, when Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Syrians. So we dwell at Jerusalem. ¹² Then the word of LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, ¹³ Thus says LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Go, and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words? says LORD. ¹⁴ The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed. And to this day they drink none, for they obey their father's commandment. But I have spoken to you, rising up early and speaking, and ye have not hearkened to me. ¹⁵ I have also sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them, and ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers. But ye have not inclined your ear, nor hearkened to me. ¹⁶ Inasmuch as the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not hearkened to me, ¹⁷ therefore thus says LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them, but they have not heard, and I have called to them, but they have not answered. ¹⁸ And Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, Thus says LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according to all that he commanded you, ¹⁹ therefore thus says LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me forever.