Jeremiah 34
NASB
Jere 34:1
Jere 34:2
Jere 34:3
Jere 34:4
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~"Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah! Thus says the LORD concerning you, `You will not die by the sword.
Jere 34:5
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~`You will die in peace; and as {spices} were burned for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they will burn {spices} for you; and they will lament for you, "Alas, lord!"' For I have spoken the word," declares the LORD.
Jere 34:7
Jere 34:8
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The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to proclaim release to them:
Jere 34:9
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that each man should set free his male servant and each man his female servant, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman; so that no one should keep them, a Jew his brother, in bondage.
Jere 34:10
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And all the officials and all the people obeyed who had entered into the covenant that each man should set free his male servant and each man his female servant, so that no one should keep them any longer in bondage; they obeyed, and set {them free.}
Jere 34:11
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But afterward they turned around and took back the male servants and the female servants whom they had set free, and brought them into subjection for male servants and for female servants.
Jere 34:12
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Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jere 34:13
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"Thus says the LORD God of Israel, `I made a covenant with your forefathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, saying,
Jere 34:14
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"At the end of seven years each of you shall set free his Hebrew brother who has been sold to you and has served you six years, you shall send him out free from you; but your forefathers did not obey Me or incline their ear to Me.
Jere 34:15
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~"Although recently you {had} turned and done what is right in My sight, each man proclaiming release to his neighbor, and you had made a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name.
Jere 34:16
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~"Yet you turned and profaned My name, and each man took back his male servant and each man his female servant whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your male servants and female servants."'
Jere 34:17
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"Therefore thus says the LORD, `You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming release each man to his brother and each man to his neighbor. Behold, I am proclaiming a release to you,' declares the LORD, `to the sword, to the pestilence and to the famine; and I will make you a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
Jere 34:18
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~`I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not fulfilled the words of the covenant which they made before Me, {when} they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts--
Jere 34:19
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the officials of Judah and the officials of Jerusalem, the court officers and the priests and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf--
Jere 34:20
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I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life. And their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.
Jere 34:21
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~`Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon which has gone away from you.
Jere 34:22
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~`Behold, I am going to command,' declares the LORD, `and I will bring them back to this city; and they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitant."'
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