Jeremiah 34:1-35:19 Jehovah spoke his word to Jeremiah when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, his entire army, and all the kingdoms and people that he ruled were attacking Jerusalem and all its cities. This is what he said:

NSB⁽ⁱ⁾ ¹ Jehovah spoke his word to Jeremiah when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, his entire army, and all the kingdoms and people that he ruled were attacking Jerusalem and all its cities. This is what he said: ² »This is what Jehovah the God of Israel says: ‘Go to King Zedekiah of Judah, and tell him, Jehovah says: »I am going to hand this city over to the king of Babylon. He will burn it down. ³ »You will not escape from him. You will certainly be captured and handed over to him. You will see the king of Babylon with your own eyes, and he will talk to you face to face. Then you will go to Babylon. ⁴ »Listen to the word of Jehovah, King Zedekiah of Judah. This is what Jehovah says about you: ‘You will not die in war. ⁵ ‘You will die peacefully. People will burn funeral fires for you as they did for your ancestors, the kings who lived before you.’ They will say: »Oh, master, as they mourn for you. I have spoken my word, declares Jehovah.«’«’« ⁶ The prophet Jeremiah told all these things to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem. ⁷ He did this when the army of the king of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem and the cities of Lachish and Azekah. These were the only fortified cities of Judah that were left. ⁸ Jehovah spoke his word to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah and all the people in Jerusalem promised to free their slaves. ⁹ Everyone was supposed to free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female. No one was supposed to keep another Jew as a slave. ¹⁰ All the officials and all the people agreed and promised to free their male and female slaves and not to keep them as slaves anymore. So they set them free. ¹¹ Later they changed their minds and took back the men and women they had freed and made them their slaves again. ¹² Jehovah continued to speak his word to Jeremiah: ¹³ »This is what Jehovah the God of Israel says: ‘I put a condition on the covenant I made to your ancestors when I brought them from Egypt, where they were slaves. I said: ¹⁴ »Every seven years each of you must free any Hebrews who sold themselves to you. When they have served you for six years, you must set them free. But your ancestors refused to obey me or listen to me. ¹⁵ »You changed and did what I consider right. You agreed to free your neighbors, and you made a covenant in my presence, in the Temple that is called by my name. ¹⁶ »Now you have changed again and dishonored me. You brought back the male and females slaves that you had set free to live their own lives. You have forced them to be your male and female slaves again.’ ¹⁷ »This is what Jehovah says: ‘You did not obey me. You have not freed your relatives and neighbors. Now I am going to free you,’ declares Jehovah. ‘I will free you to die in wars, plagues, and famines. I will make all the kingdoms of the world horrified at the thought of you. ¹⁸ I will hand over the people who have rejected my covenant. They have not kept the terms of the covenant they made in my presence when they cut a calf in two and passed between its pieces. ¹⁹ I will hand over the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the palace officials, the priests, and all the common people who passed between the pieces of the calf. ²⁰ I will hand them over to their enemies who want to kill them. Their corpses will be food for birds and wild animals. ²¹ I will hand King Zedekiah of Judah and his officials over to their enemies who want to kill them and to the army of the king of Babylon, the army that has withdrawn from you.’ ²² »‘I am going to give a command,’ declares Jehovah. ‘I will bring that army back to this city to attack it, capture it, and burn it down. I will destroy the cities of Judah so that no one will live there.’« ³⁵ ¹ This is the word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah: ² »Go into the house of the Rechabites and talk to them. Take them into the House of Jehovah, into one of the rooms, and give them wine.« ³ I took Jaazaniah, the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons and all the Rechabites. ⁴ I took them into the House of Jehovah, into the room of the sons of Hanan, the son of Igdaliah, the man of God. This was near the rulers' room, over the room of Maaseiah, the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door. ⁵ I set out some large bowls full of wine together with some cups. Then I said to the Rechabites: »Have some wine!« ⁶ But they answered: »No! The ancestor of our clan, Jonadab son of Rechab, made a rule that we must obey. He said: ‘Do not ever drink wine ⁷ or build houses or plant crops and vineyards. Instead, you must always live in tents and move from place to place. If you obey this command, you will live a long time.’ ⁸ »We have obeyed all the instructions that Jonadab gave us. We never drink wine, and neither do our wives, our sons, or our daughters. ⁹ »We do not build houses for homes for we live in tents. We own no vineyards, fields, or grain. We have fully obeyed everything that our ancestor Jonadab commanded us. ¹⁰ »We live in tents, and we have obeyed everything our ancestor Jonadab ordered us to do. ¹¹ »But when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invaded this land, we said: ‘Let's go to Jerusalem to escape the Babylonian and Aramean armies. That is why we are living in Jerusalem.’« ¹² Then Jehovah spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said: ¹³ »This is what Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘Tell the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem, Will you ever learn your lesson and obey my words?« Declares Jehovah. ¹⁴ »Jonadab, Rechab's son, ordered his descendants not to drink wine. This order has been carried out. His descendants have not drunk any wine to this day, because they have obeyed their ancestor's order. I have spoken to you again and again, but you have refused to listen to me. ¹⁵ »I have sent all my servants the prophets to you again and again. They said: Turn from your evil ways, do what is right, and do not follow other gods in order to serve them. Then you will live in the land that I gave you and your ancestors. However, you refused to listen to me or obey me. ¹⁶ »The descendants of Jonadab, Rechab's son, have carried out the orders of their ancestor, but you refuse to listen to me.«’« ¹⁷ »This is what Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am going to bring on Judah and on all those who live in Jerusalem all the disasters that I threatened. I have spoken to them, but they did not listen. I called to them, but they did not answer.’« ¹⁸ Then Jeremiah said to the family of Rechab: »This is what Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘You obeyed the order of your ancestor Jonadab, followed all his instructions, and did exactly what he told you to do. ¹⁹ So this is what Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: »A descendant of Jonadab, Rechab's son, will always serve me.«’«