Jeremiah 34:11-22

English Standard Version

¹¹ But afterward they turned around and took back the male and female slaves ^(A)they had set free, and brought them into subjection as slaves. ¹² The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ¹³ “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I myself made a covenant with your fathers when ^(B)I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying, ^14 (C)‘At the end of seven years each of you must set free the fellow Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years; ^(D)you must set him free from your service.’ But ^(E)your fathers did not listen to me or incline their ears to me. ¹⁵ You recently repented and did what was right in my eyes ^(F)by proclaiming liberty, each to his neighbor, and ^(G)you made a covenant before me in the ^(H)house that is called by my name, ¹⁶ but then you turned around ^(I)and profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves, ^(J)whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your slaves.

¹⁷ “Therefore, thus says the Lord: You have not obeyed me ^(K)by proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and to his neighbor; ^(L)behold, I proclaim to you liberty ^(M)to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, declares the Lord. ^(N)I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸ And the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of ^(O)the covenant that they made before me, I will make them like^{[a] (P)}the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts— ¹⁹ the officials of Judah, the officials of Jerusalem, ^(Q)the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf. ²⁰ And I will give them into the hand of their enemies ^(R)and into the hand of those who seek their lives. ^(S)Their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. ²¹ And ^(T)Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon ^(U)which has withdrawn from you. ²² Behold, ^(V)I will command, declares the Lord, and will ^(W)bring them back to this city. ^(X)And they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire. ^(Y)I will make the cities of Judah a desolation ^(Z)without inhabitant.”