Jeremiah 34:1–7

Warning to Zedekiah

34While Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms and peoples^o in the empire he ruled were fighting against Jerusalem^p 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 Zedekiah^q 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 fire^u 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.’ ”

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