Jeremiah 34:1-35:19 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 that were under his dominion, and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of it, saying:

NHEB⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ 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 that were under his dominion, and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of it, saying: ² "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Go, and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Look, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire: ³ and you shall not escape out of his hand, but shall surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and your eyes shall see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with you mouth to mouth, and you shall go to Babylon.' ⁴ Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah: thus says the LORD concerning you, 'You shall not die by the sword; ⁵ you shall die in peace; and with the burnings of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so shall they make a burning for you; and they shall lament you, saying, "Ah Lord." for I have spoken the word,' says the 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 as fortified cities. ⁸ The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after that 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 male servant, and every man his female servant, who is a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, go free; that none should keep a fellow Judean in bondage. ¹⁰ And all the officials and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the covenant, that everyone should let his male servant, and everyone his female servant, go free, that none should make bondservants 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 the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, ¹³ "Thus says the 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 you shall let go every man his brother who is a Hebrew, who has been sold to you, and has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you": but your fathers did not listen to me, neither inclined their ear. ¹⁵ You had now turned, and had done that which is right in my eyes, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor; and you had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name: ¹⁶ but you turned and profaned my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom you had let go free at their pleasure, to return; and you brought them into subjection, to be to you for servants and for handmaids. ¹⁷ Therefore thus says the LORD: "You have not listened to me, to proclaim liberty, every man to his brother, and every man to his neighbor: look, I proclaim to you a liberty, says the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸ 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 its parts; ¹⁹ the officials of Judah, and the officials 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 sky, and to the animals of the earth. ²¹ And Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials will I give 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, who have gone away from you. ²² Look, I will command, says 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 inhabitant."'" ³⁵ ¹ The word which came to Jeremiah from the 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 the LORD, into one of the rooms, 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 the LORD, into the room of the sons of Hananiah son of Gedaliah, the man of God, which was by the room of the officials, which was above the room of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the threshold. ⁵ I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites bowls full of wine, and cups; and I said to them, "Drink wine." ⁶ But they said, "We will drink no wine; for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, 'You shall drink no wine, neither you, nor your sons, forever: ⁷ neither shall you build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any; but all your days you shall dwell in tents; that you may live many days in the land in which you live.' ⁸ We have obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he commanded 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 lived in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. ¹¹ But it happened, when Nebuchadnezzar 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 Arameans'; so we dwell at Jerusalem." ¹² Then came the word of the LORD to Jeremiah, saying, ¹³ "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Go, and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, "Will you not receive instruction to listen to my words?" says the 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 you have not listened to me. ¹⁵ I have sent also to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, 'Return now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and you shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers': but you have not inclined your ear, nor listened to me. ¹⁶ Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father which he commanded them, but this people has not listened to me; ¹⁷ therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Look, I will bring on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them; because I have spoken to them, but they have not listened; and I have called to them, but they have not answered.'"'" ¹⁸ Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Because you 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 the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me forever.'"