¹⁹ The leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials,^(A) the priests and all the people of the land who walked between the pieces of the calf,

¹⁰ So all the officials and people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their male and female slaves and no longer hold them in bondage. They agreed, and set them free.

Israel’s Misery

²⁷ Her officials^(A) within her are like wolves^(B) tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people^(C) to make unjust gain.^{(D) 28} Her prophets whitewash^(E) these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations.^(F) They say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says’—when the Lord has not spoken.^{(G) 29} The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery;^(H) they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner,^(I) denying them justice.^(J)

³⁰ “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall^(K) and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.^{(L) 31} So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger,^(M) bringing down^(N) on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.^(O)”

⁷ But Ebed-Melek,^(A) a Cushite,^[a] an official^[b](B) in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate,^(C)

² (This was after King Jehoiachin^[a](A) and the queen mother,^(B) the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the skilled workers and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.)