Jeremiah 34:12

THE MESSAGE

Then Jeremiah received this Message from God : " God , the God of Israel, says, ‘I made a covenant with your ancestors when I delivered them out of their slavery in Egypt. At the time I made it clear: "At the end of seven years, each of you must free any fellow Hebrew who has had to sell himself to you. After he has served six years, set him free." But your ancestors totally ignored me.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

Hebrew Names Version
Therefore the word of the LORD came to Yirmeyahu from the LORD, saying,

King James Version
Therefore the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord , saying,

English Standard Version
The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord :

New American Standard Bible
Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

New Century Version
Then the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah:

Amplified Bible
Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

World English Bible
Therefore the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,

Geneva Bible (1587)
Therefore the worde of the Lorde came vnto Ieremiah from the Lord, saying,

Legacy Standard Bible
Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,

Berean Standard Bible
Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

Contemporary English Version
That's when the Lord told me to say to the people:

Complete Jewish Bible
Therefore this word of Adonai came to Yirmeyahu from Adonai :

Darby Translation
And the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,

Easy-to-Read Version
Then this message from the Lord came to Jeremiah:

George Lamsa Translation
Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying,

Good News Translation
Then the Lord ,

Lexham English Bible
And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,

Literal Translation
For this reason the Word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For the which cause the worde of the LORDE came vnto Ieremy from the LORDE him self, sayenge:

American Standard Version
Therefore the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying,

Bible in Basic English
For this reason the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

JPS Old Testament (1917)
therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying:

King James Version (1611)
Therefore the worde of the Lord came to Ieremiah, from the Lord, saying,

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For whiche cause, the worde of the Lorde came vnto Ieremie from the Lorde hym selfe, saying:

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
I spoke also to Sedekias king of Juda according to all these words, saying, Put your neck into the yoke, and serve the king of Babylon.

English Revised Version
Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the word of the Lord was maad of the Lord to Jeremye, and seide,

Update Bible Version
Therefore the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,

Webster's Bible Translation
Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

New English Translation
That was when the Lord spoke to Jeremiah,

New King James Version
Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

New Living Translation
So the Lord gave them this message through Jeremiah:

New Life Bible
Then the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying,

New Revised Standard
The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord :

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So then the word of Yahweh came unto Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying:

Douay-Rheims Bible
And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias from the Lord, saying:

Revised Standard Version
The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

Young's Literal Translation
And there is a word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying:

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

Contextual Overview

⁸ God delivered a Message to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah made a covenant with the people of Jerusalem to decree freedom to the slaves who were Hebrews, both men and women. The covenant stipulated that no one in Judah would own a fellow Jew as a slave. All the leaders and people who had signed the covenant set free the slaves, men and women alike. ¹¹ But a little while later, they reneged on the covenant, broke their promise and forced their former slaves to become slaves again. ¹²Then Jeremiah received this Message from God : " God , the God of Israel, says, ‘I made a covenant with your ancestors when I delivered them out of their slavery in Egypt. At the time I made it clear: "At the end of seven years, each of you must free any fellow Hebrew who has had to sell himself to you. After he has served six years, set him free." But your ancestors totally ignored me. ¹⁵"‘And now, you—what have you done? First you turned back to the right way and did the right thing, decreeing freedom for your brothers and sisters—and you made it official in a solemn covenant in my Temple. And then you turned right around and broke your word, making a mockery of both me and the covenant, and made them all slaves again, these men and women you'd just set free. You forced them back into slavery. ¹⁷"‘So here is what I, God , have to say: You have not obeyed me and set your brothers and sisters free. Here is what I'm going to do: I'm going to set you free— God 's Decree—free to get killed in war or by disease or by starvation. I'll make you a spectacle of horror. People all over the world will take one look at you and shudder. Everyone who violated my covenant, who didn't do what was solemnly promised in the covenant ceremony when they split the young bull into two halves and walked between them, all those people that day who walked between the two halves of the bull—leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, palace officials, priests, and all the rest of the people—I'm handing the lot of them over to their enemies who are out to kill them. Their dead bodies will be carrion food for vultures and stray dogs. ²¹"‘As for Zedekiah king of Judah and his palace staff, I'll also hand them over to their enemies, who are out to kill them. The army of the king of Babylon has pulled back for a time, but not for long, for I'm going to issue orders that will bring them back to this city. They'll attack and take it and burn it to the ground. The surrounding cities of Judah will fare no better. I'll turn them into ghost towns, unlivable and unlived in.'" God 's Decree.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Cross-References

Genesis 34:25
Three days after the circumcision, while all the men were still very sore, two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each with his sword in hand, walked into the city as if they owned the place and murdered every man there. They also killed Hamor and his son Shechem, rescued Dinah from Shechem's house, and left. When the rest of Jacob's sons came on the scene of slaughter, they looted the entire city in retaliation for Dinah's rape. Flocks, herds, donkeys, belongings—everything, whether in the city or the fields—they took. And then they took all the wives and children captive and ransacked their homes for anything valuable.

2 Samuel 3:14
David then sent messengers to Ish-Bosheth son of Saul: "Give me back Michal, whom I won as my wife at the cost of a hundred Philistine foreskins."

Hosea 3:2
I did it. I paid good money to get her back. It cost me the price of a slave. Then I told her, "From now on you're living with me. No more whoring, no more sleeping around. You're living with me and I'm living with you."

Matthew 14:17
"All we have are five loaves of bread and two fish," they said.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Therefore the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord,.... The word of Jehovah the Son, from Jehovah the Father, because of this transgression of the princes and people, and as soon as it was committed by them; for it is plain, from Jeremiah 34:21, that it was before the Chaldean army returned to Jerusalem, after its departure from it:

saying; as follows:

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

It is usual with commentators to say that, the laws dealing with the emancipation of the Hebrew slaves, as also that of the land resting during the sabbatical year, were not observed. The narrative teaches us the exact contrary. The manumission of the slaves on the present occasion was the spontaneous act of Zedekiah and the people. They knew of the law, and acknowledged its obligation. The observance of it was, no doubt, lax: the majority let their own selfish interests prevail; but the minority made might give way to right, and Zedekiah supported their efforts though only in a weak way.

Early in January, in the ninth year of Zedekiah, the Chaldaean army approached Jerusalem. The people made a covenant with the king, who appears as the abettor of the measure, to let their slaves go free. Possibly patriotism had its share in this: and as Jerusalem was strongly fortified, all classes possibly hoped that if the slaves were manumitted, they too would labor with a more hearty good-will in resisting the enemy. In the summer of the same year the Egyptians advanced to the rescue, and Nebuchadnezzar withdrew to meet their attack. The Jews with a strange levity, which sets them before us in a most despicable light, at once forced the manumitted slaves back into bondage. With noble indignation Jeremiah rebukes them for their treachery, assures them that the Chaldaean army will return, and warns them of the certainty of the punishment which they so richly merited.

Jeremiah 34:8

As the Chaldaean army swept over the country the wealthier classes would all flee to Jerusalem, taking with them their households. And as the Mosaic Law was probably more carefully kept there than in the country, the presence in these families of slaves who had grown grey in service may have given offence to the stricter classes at the capital.

To proclaim liberty unto them - The words are those of the proclamation of the year of jubile to the people, whereupon it became their duty to set their slaves free.

Jeremiah 34:9

Should serve himself of them - Should make them serve him (see Jeremiah 25:14).

Jeremiah 34:11

They turned, and caused ... to return - But afterward they again made the slaves return.

Jeremiah 34:13

The house of bondmen - The miserable prison in which, after being worked in the fields all day in gangs, the slaves were shut up at night.

Jeremiah 34:16

At their pleasure - literally, for themselves.

Jeremiah 34:17

I will make you to be removed into - “I will cause you to be a terror unto.” Men would shudder at them.

Jeremiah 34:18

The words ... - The Jews spoke of “cutting” a covenant, because the contracting parties cut a calf in twain and passed between the pieces. Thus cutting a covenant and cutting a calf in twain, meant the same thing.

Jeremiah 34:21

Which are gone up from you - i. e., which have departed for the present, and have raised the siege.