1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his entire army, all the kingdoms of the earth under his rule, and all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and all its cities: 2 “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah. Tell him, ‘Thus says the LORD: Look, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire. 3 You will not escape his hand. You will surely be captured and given into his hand. Your eyes will see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he will speak with you face to face. You will go to Babylon. 4 Yet hear the word of the LORD, Zedekiah king of Judah. Thus says the LORD concerning you: You will not die by the sword. 5 You will die in peace. As they burned spices for your fathers, the former kings who preceded you, so they will burn them for you and lament for you, saying, “Alas, master!” For I have spoken the word, declares the LORD.’ ”

6 Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, 7 while the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that remained—Lachish and Azekah, for these were the fortified cities remaining among the cities of Judah.

8 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after King Zedekiah made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom to them: 9 Everyone was to set free his male and female Hebrew slaves, so that no one would keep a fellow Jew, his brother, in slavery. 10 All the officials and all the people who had entered the covenant agreed to set their male and female slaves free and no longer enslave them. They obeyed and set them free. 11 But afterward they turned back and brought back the male and female slaves they had set free, forcing them into slavery again.

12 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 13 “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying, 14 ‘At the end of seven years, each of you must release his fellow Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years. You must let him go free from your service.’ But your fathers did not listen to me or incline their ear. 15 You yourselves had turned today and done what was right in my eyes by proclaiming freedom, each to his neighbor. You made a covenant before me in the house that bears my name. 16 But you turned back and profaned my name. Each of you brought back his male and female slaves whom you had set free to live as they wished, and you forced them to be your slaves again.

17 Therefore thus says the LORD: You have not obeyed me by proclaiming freedom, each to his brother and each to his neighbor. Look, I proclaim freedom for you, declares the LORD—freedom to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine. I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 18 I will hand over the men who violated my covenant, who did not carry out the words of the covenant they made before me when they cut the calf in two and passed between its pieces: 19 the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf. 20 I will give them into the hand of their enemies and those who seek their lives. Their corpses will be food for the birds of the heavens and the animals of the earth. 21 I will also give Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials into the hand of their enemies and those who seek their lives, into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon that has withdrawn from you. 22 Look, I will give the command, declares the LORD, and bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it with fire. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitants.”