Message to Tzedekiyahu concerning his coming captivity
34:1 The Dvar which came unto YirmeYahu (ירמיה) from YHWH (יהוה), when Nevukadnetztzar melekh Bavel, and all his army, and all ha mamlakah (kingdoms) ha eretz of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Yerushalayim, and against all the cities thereof, saying,
34:2 Thus saith YHWH (יהוה), Elohei Yisrael:
Go and speak to TzedekiYah melekh Yehudah, and tell him, Thus saith YHWH (יהוה); Hinei, I will give this city into the hand of melekh Bavel, and he shall burn it with fire:
34:3 And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall hinnei the eyes of melekh Bavel, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Bavel.
34:4 Yet hear the Dvar YHWH (יהוה), O TzedekiYah melekh Yehudah; Thus saith YHWH (יהוה) of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword:
34:5 [But] thou shalt die in shalom: and with the burnings of thy avot, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn [odours] for thee; and they will lament thee, [saying], Ah master! for I have pronounced the word, declares YHWH (יהוה).
34:6 Then YirmeYahu (ירמיה) ha Navi spake all these Devarim unto TzedekiYah melekh Yehudah in Yerushalayim,
34:7 When melekh Bavel's army fought against Yerushalayim, and against all the cities of Yehudah that were left, against Lakish, and against Azekah: for these defenced cities remained of the cities of Yehudah.
34:8 [This is] the Dvar that came unto YirmeYahu (ירמיה) from YHWH (יהוה), after that ha melekh TzedekiYah had made a Brit with all the people which [were] at Yerushalayim, to proclaim liberty unto them;
34:9 That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, [being] an Hebrew (עברי) man or an Hebrew (עברי) woman, go free; that none should serve himself of them, [to wit], of a Yehudi his brother.
34:10 Now when all the sarim, and all the people, which had entered into the Brit, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed, and let [them] go.
34:11 But afterward they turned, and caused the avadim and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for avadim and for handmaids.
Therefore the Dvar YHWH (יהוה) came to YirmeYahu (ירמיה) from YHWH (יהוה), saying,
34:13 Thus saith YHWH (יהוה), Elohei Yisrael; I made a Brit with your avot in the day that I brought them forth out of ha eretz Mitzrayim, out of ha bayit bondmen, saying,
34:14 At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew (עברי), which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your avot listened not unto Me, neither inclined their ear.
34:15 And ye were now turned, and had done right in My sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a Brit before Me in the house which is called by My Name:
34:16 But ye turned and polluted My Name, and caused every man his eved, and every man his handmaid, whom ye had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for avadim and for handmaids.
34:17 Therefore thus saith YHWH (יהוה); Ye have not listened unto Me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: Hinei, I proclaim a liberty for you, declares YHWH (יהוה), to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into kol ha mamlakah ha eretz.
34:18 And I will give the men that have transgressed My Brit, which have not performed the Divrei ha Brit which they had made before Me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof,
34:19 The sarim of Yehudah, and the sarim of Yerushalayim, the sarisim (enunuchs), and the Kohenim, and all the people of the eretz, which passed between the parts of the calf;
34:20 I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the shamayim, and to the beasts of the earth.
34:21 And TzedekiYah melekh Yehudah and his sarim will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of melekh Bavel's army, which are gone up from you.
34:22 Hinnei, I will command, declares YHWH (יהוה), 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 Yehudah a desolation without an inhabitant.