Jeremiah 34
Tree of Life Version
Warning to Zedekiah
34 The word which came to Jeremiah from Adonai, when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion and all the peoples were warring against Jerusalem and its towns, saying, 2 thus says Adonai, the God of Israel: “Go, speak to King Zedekiah of Judah and tell him, thus says Adonai: ‘I am about to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire, 3 and you will not escape out of his hand, but will surely be captured and given into his hand. Your eyes will behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he will speak with you mouth to mouth, and you will go to Babylon.”
4 Yet hear the word of Adonai, O Zedekiah king of Judah, thus says Adonai concerning you: “You will not die by the sword; 5 you will die in peace. As there were burning ceremonies for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they will burn spices for you, and they will lament for you: ‘Oy, lord!’ For it is a word I have spoken,” declares Adonai.
Covenant Breaking With Slaves
6 Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke all these words to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem, 7 when the army of the king of Babylon was warring 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 Adonai, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people that were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them, 9 so that everyone should let his manservant and his maidservant—Hebrew man or Hebrew woman—go free, so that no one should make a slave of a Jew, his brother. 10 So all the princes and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the covenant, that everyone would free his manservant and his maidservant and not make them slaves any more—they obeyed, and freed them. 11 But afterward they turned around and made the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, return, and brought them back into subjection as servants and as handmaids.”
12 So the word of Adonai came to Jeremiah from Adonai, saying, 13 thus says Adonai, the God of Israel: “I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying: 14 ‘At the end of seven years you are to set free every man his brother that is a Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years; you are let him go free from you.’ But your fathers did not obey Me, nor inclined their ear. 15 Now you had repented, and had done that which is right in My eyes, by proclaiming liberty everyone to his neighbor. You even had made a covenant before Me in the House where My Name is called. 16 But you turned around and profaned My Name, and made everyone his servant and his handmaid, whom you had let go free at their will, return, and you brought them back into subjection, to be your servants and handmaids.”
17 Therefore thus says Adonai: “You have not obeyed Me, to proclaim liberty, everyone to his brother and everyone to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim for you a liberty,” declares Adonai, “to the sword, to plague and to famine! So I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 18 I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts 19 —the princes of Judah and the princes of Jerusalem, the officers, the kohanim, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf— 20 I will even give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of them who seek their life, and their dead bodies will be for food to the birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth. 21 King Zedekiah of Judah and his princes I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of them who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, who were withdrawing from you. 22 Indeed, I will command,” declares Adonai, “and cause them to return to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it down with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a wasteland, with no one living.”
Jeremiah 9-10
Tree of Life Version
9 If only I had a travelers’ lodging place
in the wilderness,
then I might leave my people
and get away from them!
For they are all adulterers,
a bunch of traitors.
2 They bend their tongue like a bow.
Lies, not faithfulness,
prevail in the land.
“For they go from evil to evil
and do not know Me,” says Adonai.
3 Beware, everyone, of your neighbor!
Don’t even trust a brother.
For every brother grabs like Jacob
and every neighbor spreads slander.
4 Everyone deceives his neighbor
and does not speak the truth.
They taught their tongue to speak lies.
They wear themselves out doing wrong.
5 “You dwell in the midst of deceit.
In deceit they refuse to know Me.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
6 Therefore thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot:
“I am about to refine them and test them.
For what else can I do
for the daughter of My people?
7 Their tongue is a deadly arrow,
speaking deceit.
With his mouth
each says shalom to his neighbor,
while inwardly setting a trap for him.
8 For such things shall I not punish them?”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
“Should I not avenge Myself
on such a nation as this?”
9 For the mountains I lift up weeping and wailing,
a lament for the desert pastures.
For they are so scorched
that no one passes through—
the lowing of cattle is not heard.
The birds of the air have fled
and the animals are gone.
10 “I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins,
a lair for jackals.
I will make the cities of Judah
a wasteland without inhabitant.
11 Who is the one wise enough to understand this?
To whom has the mouth of Adonai spoken
that he may explain it?
Why is the land ruined,
laid waste like a wilderness,
so that no one passes through?”
12 Adonai said “It is because they have forsaken My Torah that I set before them. They have neither obeyed My voice nor walked according to it, 13 but have walked after the stubbornness of their heart, and after the Baalim that their fathers taught them. 14 Therefore, thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Israel, “look, I will make this people eat wormwood and drink poisoned water. 15 I will scatter them among the nations whom neither they nor their fathers have known. I will pursue them with the sword, until I have finished with them.”
16 Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot:
“Pay attention! Call the dirge-singers and let them come.
Send for the most skillful wailers and let them come!”
17 “Let them come quickly
and lift up a wailing over us
so our eyes may run down with tears
and our eyelids gush with water.”
18 For a wailing voice is heard from Zion:
“How we are ruined!
We are utterly ashamed—
we have forsaken the land,
for they tore down our dwellings.”
19 Now, hear the word of Adonai, O women,
let your ear receive the word of His mouth.
Teach your daughters wailing
and everyone her neighbor a dirge.
20 For death has climbed through our windows.
It has entered into our palaces
to cut off children from the street
and young men from the squares.”
21 “Say this,” declares Adonai.
“The carcasses of men will lie
like dung on the open field,
like cut grain behind the reaper,
with no one gathering them.”
Boast in Knowing Adonai
22 Thus says Adonai:
“Let not the wise boast in his wisdom
nor the mighty boast in his might
nor the rich glory in his riches.
23 But let one who boasts boast in this:
that he understands and knows Me.
For I am Adonai who exercises lovingkindness,
justice and righteousness on earth.
For in these things I delight.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
24 “Days are soon coming,” declares Adonai, “when I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised— 25 Egypt, Judah, Edom and Ammon’s children and Moab, and all that have cut the corners of their hair—that dwell in the wilderness. For all the nations are uncircumcised but all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in the heart.
Idols are Worthless Scarecrows
10 Hear the word that Adonai speaks to you, house of Israel, 2 Thus says Adonai:
“Do not learn the way of the nations
or be frightened by signs of the heavens—
though the nations are terrified by them.
3 The customs of the peoples are useless:
it is just a tree cut from the forest,
the work of the hands of a craftsman with a chisel.
4 They decorate it with silver and gold,
and fasten it with hammer and nails
so it won’t totter.
5 Like a scarecrow in a cucumber garden,
their idols cannot speak.
They must be carried
because they cannot walk![a]
Do not fear them
for they can do no harm
—nor do any good.”
6 There is none like You, Adonai!
You are great
and great is Your Name in power.
7 Who should not fear You,
Ruler of the nations?
For it is your due!
For among all the wise of the nations
and in all their kingdoms,
there is none like You.
8 They are totally stupid and foolish.
Discipline is useless—it’s wood!
9 Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish
and gold from Uphaz.
The work of the craftsman and of the goldsmith’s hands
is clothed in blue and purple—
all the work of skillful men.
10 But Adonai Elohim is truth.
He is the living God and eternal King.
At His wrath the earth quakes
and the nations cannot endure His indignation.
11 Thus you will say to them: “The gods—which did not make the heavens and the earth—will perish from the earth and from under the heavens.”
12 He made the earth by His power,
established the world by His wisdom,
and stretched out heaven by His understanding.
13 When His voice thunders, waters in heaven roar.
He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain
and brings forth wind from His storehouses.
14 Everyone is stupid, ignorant.
Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idol!
His molten image is a fraud.
There is no breath in them.
15 They are futile, a work of mockery.
In the time of their punishment they will perish.
16 Jacob’s portion is not like these.
For He is the Maker of all things
and Israel, the tribe of His inheritance
—Adonai-Tzva’ot is His Name.”
Coming Pain of Exile
17 Pick up your bundle from the ground,
you who live under siege.
18 For thus says Adonai:
“I am about to hurl
the inhabitants out of the land.
At this time I will press hard on them
so that they will be found out.”
19 Oy to me because of my brokenness!
My wound is incurable.
Yet I said, “This is simply a sickness
and I must bear it.”
20 “My tent is destroyed
and all my ropes are snapped.
My children are gone from me
and are no more.
No one is left to stretch out my tent
or set up my tent curtains.
21 For the shepherds are stupid!
They have not sought Adonai.
Therefore they have not acted wisely
and all their flocks are scattered.”
22 Listen! The sound of a report is coming—
a great commotion out of the land of the north—
to make the cities of Judah desolate,
a haunt of jackals.
23 I know, Adonai, that a man’s way is not his own,
nor does man, as he walks, direct his steps.
24 Chasten me, Adonai, but with justice,
not in Your anger,
lest You reduce me to nothing.
25 Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You
and on the families that do not call on Your Name.
For they have devoured Jacob,
devoured and consumed him,
and destroyed his homeland.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 10:5 cf. 1 Cor. 12:2.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.