Jeremiah 34:1-35:19 These are the wordes which the Lord spake vnto Ieremy what tyme as Nabuchodonosor the kynge of Babylon, & all his Hostes (out of all the kingdomes that were vnder his power) & all hys people, fought agaynst Ierusalem and all the cyties therof.

Great⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ These are the wordes which the Lord spake vnto Ieremy what tyme as Nabuchodonosor the kynge of Babylon, & all his Hostes (out of all the kingdomes that were vnder his power) & all hys people, fought agaynst Ierusalem and all the cyties therof. ² Thus sayeth the Lorde God of Israel: Goo, & speake to Zedekiah the kynge of Iuda, and tell hym. The Lorde sendeth the thys worde: Beholde, I wyll delyuer thys cytie into the hande of the kyng of Babylon, he shall burne it, ³ and thou shalt not escape hys handes, but shalt be led awaye presoner, and deliuered into his power. Thou shalt loke the kynge of Babylon in the face, and he shal speake with the, mouth to mouth and then shalt thou goo to Babilon. ⁴ Yet heare the worde of the Lorde, O Zedekiah thou kynge of Iuda: Thus sayeth the Lorde vnto the. Thou shalt not be slayne with the swearde, ⁵ but shalt dye in peace. Lyke as thy fore fathers the kynges, thy progenitours, were brente: so shalt thou be brent also, and in thy mourninge they shall saye: oh Lord. For thus haue I determyned, sayeth the Lorde. ⁶ Then spake Ieremy the prophet all these wordes vnto Zedekiah kynge of Iuda in Ierusalem: ⁷ what tyme as the kynge of Babylons hooste beseged Ierusalem, and the remnaunt of the cyties. Namely, Lachis and Azecach, which yet remayned of the stronge defensed cyties of Iuda. ⁸ These are the wordes that the Lord spake vnto Ieremy the prophete, when Zedekiah was agreed with all the people at Ierusalem, that there shulde be proclamed a libertie: ⁹ so that euery man shuld let his seruaunt & handmayde go fre, Hebrue and Hebruesse, and no Iewe to holde hys brother as a bonde man. ¹⁰ Nowe as they had consented, all the princes and all the people which had gathered vnto this agrement that euery man shulde set at lybertie his bonde seruaunte and bonde woman and no longer to holde them bonde euen so they were obedient, & let them go free. ¹¹ But afterwarde they repented, and toke agayne the seruauntes and hande maydens, whom they had lett go free, and so made them bonde againe. ¹² For the which cause the worde of the Lorde came vnto Ieremye from the Lorde hym selfe, sayinge: ¹³ Thus sayeth the Lord God of Israel: I made a couenaunt with youre fathers, when I brought them out of Egypt, (that they shulde no more be bondmen) sayinge. ¹⁴ When seuen yeares are oute, euery man shall let hys bought seruaunte an Hebrue go fre, yf he haue serued hym syxe yeares. But youre fathers obeyed me not & herkened not vnto me. ¹⁵ As for you, ye were nowe turned, & did right before me, in that ye proclamed, eueryman to let his neighboure go free, and in that ye made a couenaunt before me, in the temple that beareth my name. ¹⁶ But yet ye haue turned youre selues agayne, and blasphemed my name. In this, that euery man hath requyred his seruaunt & handmayden agayne, whom ye had let go quyte and fre, & compelled them to serue you agayne, and to be youre bonde men, and bondwemen. ¹⁷ And therfore thus sayeth the Lorde: ye haue not obeyed me, euery man to proclame fredome vnto his brother & neyghboure: wherfore, I wyll call you vnto a fredome, sayeth the Lord: euen vnto the swearde, to the pestilence, & to honger, & will make you to be plaged in all the kyngdomes of the earth. ¹⁸ Yee, those men that haue broken my couenaunt, & not kepte the wordes of the appoyntement, which they made before me: when they hewed the calfe in two, & when there wente thorowe the two halfes therof: ¹⁹ The Prynces of Iuda, the Princes of Ierusalem, the gelded men, the Prestes and all the people of the lande, which wente thorowe the two sydes of the calfe. ²⁰ Those men wyll I geue into the power of theyr enemies, & into the handes of them that folowe vpon theyr lyues. And their deed bodies shalbe meate for the foules of the ayre, & beastes of the felde. ²¹ As for Zedekiah the kynge of Iuda and hys Prynces, I wyll delyuer them into the power of their enemyes, and of them that desyre to slaye them, and into the hande of the kynge of Babylons hoste which nowe is departed from you: ²² But thorow my commaundement (sayeth the Lorde) they shal come agayne before thys cytye, they shall fyght agaynst it, wynne it, and burne it: Moreouer, I wyll laye the cyties of Iuda so waste, that no man shall dwell therin. ³⁵ ¹ The wordes whyche the Lorde spake vnto Ieremy, in the raynge of Iehoakim the sonne of Iosiah kyng of Iuda, are these: ² Go vnto the house of the Rechabites, & call them out, and bringe them to the house of the Lorde into some commodyous place, and geue then wyne to dryncke. ³ Then toke I Iazaniah the sonne of Ieremy the sonne of Habaziniah, and his brethren, & all his sonnes, and the whole housholde of the Rechabytes: ⁴ and brought them to the house of the Lorde into the closet of the chyldren of Hanan the sonne of Iegedaliah the man of God: which was by the closet of the Princes that is aboue the closet of Maasiah the sonne of Selum, which is the treasurer. ⁵ And before the sonnes of the kynred of the Rechabytes, I set pottes full of wyne, and cuppes, & sayde vnto them: Drincke wyne. ⁶ But they sayde: we wyll dryncke no wyne for Ionadab the sonne of Rechab oure father commaunded vs, saying: ye and youre sonnes shall neuer dryncke wyne buylde no houses, sowe no sede, plante no vynes, ⁷ yee, ye shal haue no vineyardes: but for all youre tyme ye shall dwell in tentes, that ye maye lyue longe in the lande wherin ye be straungers. ⁸ Thus haue we obeyed the commaundement of Ionadab the sonne of Rechab oure father in all that he hath charged vs, & so we drynke no wyne all oure lyfe longe: we, nor oure wyues, our sonnes and oure daughters. ⁹ Nether builde we any house to dwell therin, we haue also amonge vs nether vineyardes, ner cornelande to sowe: ¹⁰ but we dwell in tentes, we obeye, and do accordynge vnto all, that Ionadab oure father commaunded vs. ¹¹ But now that Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon came vp into the lande, we sayde, come, lett vs go to Ierusalem, that we maye escape the hooste of the Caldees and the Assyrians: and so we dwell now at Ierusalem. ¹² Then came the worde of the Lorde vnto Ieremy saying. ¹³ Thus sayeth the Lord of hoostes the God of Israel: Go and tell the men of Iuda and the inhabitours of Ierusalem: Will ye not be refourmed, to obey my wordes saieth the Lorde? ¹⁴ The wordes which Ionadab the sonne of Rechab commaunded his sonnes, that they shulde drynke no wyne, are fast and surely kept: for vnto thys daye they dryncke no wyne, but obeye their fathers commaundement. But as for me, I haue stand vp early, I haue spoken vnto you, & geuen you earnest warnynge: & yet haue ye not bene obedient vnto me. ¹⁵ Yee, I haue sent my seruauntes, all the prophetes vnto you, I rose vp early, & sent you worde, sayinge: O turne you, nowe euery man from his wycked waye: amende youre lyues, and go not after straunge goddes, to worshyppe them: that ye maye continue in the lande, which I haue geuen vnto you & youre fathers, but ye wolde nether heare me, ner folowe me. ¹⁶ The chyldren of Ionadab Rechabs sonne haue stedfastly kepte their fathers commaundement, that he gaue them, but this people is not obedient vnto me. ¹⁷ And therfore thus sayeth the Lorde of hoostes the God of Israel: Beholde, I will bringe vpon Iuda & vpon euery one that dwelleth in Ierusalem, all the trouble that I haue deuysed agaynst them. For I haue spoken vnto them, but they wold not folowe. I haue called vnto them, neuertheles they wold geue me no answere. ¹⁸ Ieremy also spake vnto the housholde of the Rechabites: Thus sayeth the Lord of Hostes the God of Israell: For so moche as ye haue obeyed the commaundement of Ionadab youre father, and kepte all hys preceptes, and done accordyng vnto all that he hath bydden you: ¹⁹ Therfore thus sayeth the Lorde of Hostes, the God of Israel: Ionadab the sonne of Rechab shall not fayle, but haue one out of his stocke to stande alwaye before me.