Warning to Zedekiah
1While Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms and peoples in the empire he ruled were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding towns, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Go to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am about to give this city into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down. 3You will not escape from his grasp but will surely be captured and given into his hands. You will see the king of Babylon with your own eyes, and he will speak with you face to face. And you will go to Babylon.
4“ ‘Yet hear the Lord’s promise to you, Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what the Lord says concerning you: You will not die by the sword; 5you will die peacefully. As people made a funeral fire in honor of your predecessors, the kings who ruled before you, so they will make a fire in your honor and lament, “Alas, master!” I myself make this promise, declares the Lord.’ ”
6Then Jeremiah the prophet told all this to Zedekiah king of Judah, in Jerusalem, 7while the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah that were still holding out—Lachish and Azekah. These were the only fortified cities left in Judah.
Freedom for Slaves
8The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom for the slaves. 9Everyone was to free their Hebrew slaves, both male and female; no one was to hold a fellow Hebrew in bondage. 10So 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. 11But afterward they changed their minds and took back the slaves they had freed and enslaved them again.
12Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 13“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. I said, 14‘Every seventh year each of you must free any fellow Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. After they have served you six years, you must let them go free.’34:14 Deut. 15:12 Your ancestors, however, did not listen to me or pay attention to me. 15Recently you repented and did what is right in my sight: Each of you proclaimed freedom to your own people. You even made a covenant before me in the house that bears my Name. 16But now you have turned around and profaned my name; each of you has taken back the male and female slaves you had set free to go where they wished. You have forced them to become your slaves again.
17“Therefore this is what the Lord says: You have not obeyed me; you have not proclaimed freedom to your own people. So I now proclaim ‘freedom’ for you, declares the Lord—‘freedom’ to fall by the sword, plague and famine. I will make you abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth. 18Those who have violated my covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces. 19The leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests and all the people of the land who walked between the pieces of the calf, 20I will deliver into the hands of their enemies who want to kill them. Their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.
21“I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials into the hands of their enemies who want to kill them, to the army of the king of Babylon, which has withdrawn from you. 22I am going to give the order, declares the Lord, and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, take it and burn it down. And I will lay waste the towns of Judah so no one can live there.”
給西底迦的警告
1巴比倫王尼布甲尼撒率領他的軍隊和他統治的各邦國攻打耶路撒冷及其周圍城邑時，耶和華對耶利米說： 2「以色列的上帝耶和華這樣說，『你去告訴猶大王西底迦，以色列的上帝耶和華說：看啊，我要把這城交在巴比倫王的手中，他要將城付之一炬。 3你必逃不出巴比倫王的手心，你必被抓，落入他手中。你必和巴比倫王面對面、眼對眼地說話，然後被帶到巴比倫。 4猶大王西底迦啊！你要聽耶和華關於你的話。耶和華說：你必不會死在刀劍之下， 5你必安然去世。人們必為你燒香，像為你的先王燒香一樣，他們必為你哀悼說，唉，我主啊！』這是我耶和華說的。」
6耶利米先知就在耶路撒冷把這番話告訴了猶大王西底迦。 7那時，巴比倫王的軍隊正攻打耶路撒冷以及猶大僅存的兩座堅城拉吉和亞西加。
8耶和華的話傳給耶利米之前，西底迦王與耶路撒冷的居民立約，宣佈釋放自己的奴隸。 9各人都要釋放自己的希伯來男女奴隸，誰都不應使自己的希伯來同胞做奴隸。 10所有立約的首領和人民都答應守約，不再奴役他們。他們按約釋放了自己的男女奴隸。 11但事後他們卻反悔，抓回先前釋放的男女奴隸，再次奴役他們。 12那時，耶和華對耶利米說： 13「以色列的上帝耶和華這樣說，『我曾帶領你們的祖先離開埃及，使他們不再受奴役，那時我與他們立約說， 14如果你們的希伯來同胞賣身做你們的奴隸，服侍你們六年後，到第七年你們要給他們自由。34·14 申命記15·12。你們的祖先卻掩耳不聽。 15不久前，你們回心轉意，做我視為正的事，釋放自己的同胞，並且在我的殿中當著我的面立了約。 16然而，你們卻反悔，各自抓回先前釋放的男女奴隸，再次奴役他們，褻瀆了我的名。 17因此耶和華說，既然你們不聽我的話，不給自己的同胞自由，看啊，我必給你們自由，使你們自由地死於刀劍、瘟疫和饑荒，使你們的遭遇令天下萬國驚懼。這是耶和華說的。 18-19猶大與耶路撒冷的官員、宮廷侍臣、祭司和全體百姓曾把牛犢劈成兩半，從中間走過跟我立約，後來卻又違背跟我立的約，不守在我面前所立之約的規定，所以我必使他們的下場像他們劈開的牛犢一樣。 20我要把他們交在想殺他們的敵人手中，他們的屍體要成為飛禽走獸的食物。 21我要把猶大王西底迦及其官員交在想殺他們的敵人手中，交在剛撤軍的巴比倫王手中。 22看啊，我要吩咐他們回來攻佔這城，將它付之一炬，我要使猶大的城邑荒無人煙。這是耶和華說的。』」
