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¹ The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his dominion, and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying:² This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, Go, and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus says Yahweh, Look, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:³ and you shall not escape out of his hand, but shall surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and your eyes shall look at the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with you mouth to mouth, and you shall go to Babylon.⁴ Yet hear the word of Yahweh, O Zedekiah king of Judah: thus says Yahweh concerning you, You shall not die by the sword;⁵ you shall die in peace; and with the burnings of your fathers, the former kings that were before you, so they shall make a burning for you; and they shall lament you, [saying], Ah Lord! for I have spoken the word, says Yahweh.⁶ Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem,⁷ when the king of Babylon's army was fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and against Azekah; for these [alone] remained of the cities of Judah [as] fortified cities.

⁸ The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, after the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people that were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them;⁹ that every man should let his male slave, and every man his female slave, that is a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free; that none should make slaves of them, [to wit], of a Jew his brother.¹⁰ And all the princes and all the people obeyed, that had entered into the covenant, that every one should let his male slave, and every one his female slave, go free, that none should make slaves of them anymore; they obeyed, and let them go:¹¹ but afterward they turned, and caused the male slaves and the female slaves, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for male slaves and for female slaves.¹² Therefore the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,¹³ This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: 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,¹⁴ At the end of the seven year period you shall let go every man his brother that is a Hebrew, that has been sold to you, and has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you: but your fathers did not listen to me, neither inclined their ear.¹⁵ And you had now turned, and had done that which is right in my eyes, 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:¹⁶ but you turned and profaned my name, and caused every man his male slave, and every man his female slave, whom you had let go free at their pleasure, to return; and you brought them into subjection, to be to you for male slaves and for female slaves.¹⁷ Therefore thus says Yahweh: you haven't listened to me, to proclaim liberty, every man to his brother, and every man to his neighbor: look, I proclaim to you a liberty, says Yahweh, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth.¹⁸ And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, that haven't performed the words of the covenant which they made before me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts thereof;¹⁹ the princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, that passed between the parts of the calf;²⁰ I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life; and their dead bodies shall be for food to the birds of the heavens, and to the beasts of the earth.²¹ And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes I will give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, that have gone away from you.²² Look, I will command, says Yahweh, 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 inhabitant.