¹The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms of the land under the dominion of his hand and all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and against all its cities, saying:

²This is how Yahweh, the God of Israel, said: Go and say to Zedekiah king of Judah, and say to him: This is how Yahweh said: Here I am, giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.

³And you will not escape from his hand, for you will surely be seized, and into his hand you will be given. Your eyes will see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and his mouth will speak with your mouth, and you will come to Babylon.

⁴Only hear the word of Yahweh, Zedekiah king of Judah. This is how Yahweh said concerning you: You will not die by the sword.

⁵In wholeness you will die; and like the burnings of your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they will make a burning for you, and “Alas, lord!” they will mourn for you. For I have spoken a word—the utterance of Yahweh.

⁶And Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah all these words in Jerusalem.

⁷And the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and against Azekah; for these remained among the cities of Judah, the fortified cities.

⁸The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, after King Zedekiah cut a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem, to proclaim freedom to them:

⁹To let go each man his male slave and each man his female slave, the Hebrew man and the Hebrew woman, free, so that none would make them work—a Jew, his brother—any man.

¹⁰And all the officials and all the people who had entered into the covenant obeyed, that each man should let go his male slave and each man his female slave, free, no longer to make them work; they obeyed and let them go.

¹¹But afterward they turned back and brought back the male slaves and the female slaves whom they had let go free, and forced them into bondage as male slaves and female slaves.

¹²And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying:

¹³This is how Yahweh, the God of Israel, said: I cut a covenant with your fathers on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slaves, saying:

¹⁴At the end of seven years you shall let go each man his brother the Hebrew who is sold to you and serves you six years; you shall let him go free from you. But your fathers did not listen to me, and did not incline their ear.

¹⁵And you turned back today and did what is right in my eyes, proclaiming freedom, each man to his neighbor; and you cut a covenant before me in the house over which my name is called.

¹⁶But you turned back and profaned my name; you brought back each man his male slave and each man his female slave, whom you had let go free to go as their being desired, and you forced them to be your male slaves and female slaves.

¹⁷Therefore, this is how Yahweh said: You have not listened to me by proclaiming freedom, each man to his brother and each man to his neighbor. Here I am, proclaiming to you freedom—the utterance of Yahweh—for the sword, for the pestilence, and for the famine; and I will make you a terror to all the kingdoms of the land.

¹⁸And I will give the men who overstepped my covenant, who did not carry out the words of the covenant that they cut before me—the calf that they cut in two and passed between its pieces—

¹⁹the officials of Judah and the officials of Jerusalem, the court officials and the priests and all the people of the land, who passed between the pieces of the calf.

²⁰And I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their being, and their carcasses will become food for the birds of the skies and for the beasts of the land.

²¹And 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 being, and into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, who are going up from you.

²²Here I am, commanding—the utterance of Yahweh—and I will bring them back to this city, and they will fight against it and capture it and burn it with fire; and the cities of Judah I will make a wasteland, with no one dwelling.