1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying, Compare verse1 commentary
2 Thus said the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus said the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire: Compare verse1 commentary
3 And you shall not escape out of his hand, but shall surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and your eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with you mouth to mouth, and you shall go to Babylon. Compare verse1 commentary
4 Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus said the LORD of you, You shall not die by the sword: Compare verse1 commentary
5 But you shall die in peace: and with the burnings of your fathers, the former kings which were before you, so shall they burn odors for you; and they will lament you, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, said the LORD. Compare verse1 commentary
6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, Compare verse1 commentary
7 When the king of Babylon's army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these defended cities remained of the cities of Judah. Compare verse1 commentary
8 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them; Compare verse1 commentary
9 That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother. Compare verse1 commentary
10 Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, 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. Compare verse1 commentary
11 But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids. Compare verse1 commentary
13 Thus said the LORD, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves, saying, Compare verse1 commentary
14 At the end of seven years let you go every man his brother an Hebrew, which has been sold to you; and when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you: but your fathers listened not to me, neither inclined their ear. Compare verse1 commentary
15 And you were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbor; and you had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name: Compare verse1 commentary
16 But you turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom he had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be to you for servants and for handmaids. Compare verse1 commentary
17 Therefore thus said the LORD; You have not listened to me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbor: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, said the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth. Compare verse1 commentary
18 And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in two, and passed between the parts thereof, Compare verse1 commentary
19 The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf; Compare verse1 commentary
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 to the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth. Compare verse1 commentary
21 And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which are gone up from you. Compare verse1 commentary
22 Behold, I will command, said the LORD, 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 Judah a desolation without an inhabitant. Compare verse1 commentary