Jeremiah 33:14–34:22

14 “ ‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promisem I made to the people of Israel and Judah.

15 “ ‘In those days and at that time

I will make a righteousn Brancho sprout from David’s line;p

he will do what is just and right in the land.

16 In those days Judah will be savedq

and Jerusalem will live in safety.r

This is the name by which itc will be called:s

The Lord Our Righteous Savior.’t

17 For this is what the Lord says: ‘David will never failu to have a man to sit on the throne of Israel, 18 nor will the Leviticalv priestsw ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices.x’ ”

19 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 20 “This is what the Lord says: ‘If you can break my covenant with the dayy and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time,z 21 then my covenanta with David my servant—and my covenant with the Levitesb who are priests ministering before me—can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne.c 22 I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countlessd as the stars in the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.’ ”

23 The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 24 “Have you not noticed that these people are saying, ‘The Lord has rejected the two kingdomsd e he chose’? So they despisef my people and no longer regard them as a nation.g 25 This is what the Lord says: ‘If I have not made my covenant with day and nighth and established the lawsi of heaven and earth,j 26 then I will rejectk the descendants of Jacobl and David my servant and will not choose one of his sons to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunese m and have compassionn on them.’ ”

Warning to Zedekiah

34 While Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms and peopleso in the empire he ruled were fighting against Jerusalemp and all its surrounding towns, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Go to Zedekiahq king of Judah and tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am about to give this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down.r 3 You will not escape from his grasp but will surely be captured and given into his hands.s You will see the king of Babylon with your own eyes, and he will speak with you face to face. And you will go to Babylon.

4 “ ‘Yet hear the Lord’s promise to you, Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what the Lord says concerning you: You will not die by the sword;t 5 you will die peacefully. As people made a funeral fireu in honor of your predecessors, the kings who ruled before you, so they will make a fire in your honor and lament, “Alas,v master!” I myself make this promise, declares the Lord.’ ”

6 Then Jeremiah the prophet told all this to Zedekiah king of Judah, in Jerusalem, 7 while the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah that were still holding out—Lachishw and Azekah.x These were the only fortified cities left in Judah.

Freedom for Slaves

8 The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the peopley in Jerusalem to proclaim freedomz for the slaves. 9 Everyone was to free their Hebrew slaves, both male and female; no one was to hold a fellow Hebrew in bondage.a 10 So all the officials and people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their male and female slaves and no longer hold them in bondage. They agreed, and set them free. 11 But afterward they changed their mindsb and took back the slaves they had freed and enslaved them again.

12 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 13 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your ancestorsc when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.d I said, 14 ‘Every seventh year each of you must free any fellow Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. After they have served you six years, you must let them go free.’a e Your ancestors, however, did not listen to me or pay attentionf to me. 15 Recently you repented and did what is right in my sight: Each of you proclaimed freedom to your own people.g You even made a covenant before me in the house that bears my Name.h 16 But now you have turned aroundi and profanedj my name; each of you has taken back the male and female slaves you had set free to go where they wished. You have forced them to become your slaves again.

17 “Therefore this is what the Lord says: You have not obeyed me; you have not proclaimed freedom to your own people. So I now proclaim ‘freedom’ for you,k declares the Lord—‘freedom’ to fall by the sword, plaguel and famine.m I will make you abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth.n 18 Those who have violated my covenanto and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces.p 19 The leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials,q the priests and all the people of the land who walked between the pieces of the calf, 20 I will deliverr into the hands of their enemies who want to kill them.s Their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.t

21 “I will deliver Zedekiahu king of Judah and his officialsv into the hands of their enemiesw who want to kill them, to the army of the king of Babylon,x which has withdrawny from you. 22 I am going to give the order, declares the Lord, and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, takez it and burna it down. And I will lay wasteb the towns of Judah so no one can live there.”