1When Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and all his army, all the kingdoms and people in his domain, were attacking Jerusalem and all its cities, this word came from the LORD to Jeremiah: 2“Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Go and speak to Zedekiah, king of Judah, and tell him, “Thus says the LORD; ‘I will turn this city over to the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it down; 3And you shall not escape his grasp, but shall surely be captured, and brought before the king of Babylon; you shall meet eye to eye, and he shall speak with you, mouth to mouth, and you shall go to Babylon. 4Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah, king of Judah: “You shall not die by the sword, 5But you shall die peacefully; and as they honored your fathers, the kings who were before you, with funeral rites, so shall they honor you; and they will lament your passing, saying, ‘Ah LORD!’ For I have pronounced this word”, says the LORD.’”’”

6Then Jeremiah, the prophet, told all these words to Zedekiah, king of Judah, in Jerusalem, 7While the king of Babylon's army was fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the fortified cities of Judah that remained - Lachish, and Azekah.

8This is a word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them: 9That any Hebrew men or women that he held as slaves or as his servants should go free; that no Jew should enslave his brother. 10Now when all the officials, and the people who had entered into the covenant, heard that everyone should let his Hebrew slaves go free - that none should enslave them anymore, then they obeyed, and let them go. 11But afterward, they changed their minds, and brought the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, back into subjection as slaves.

12Then this 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 in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, and out of bondage, when I said, 14“At the end of seven years you must free your brother, every Hebrew, who has been sold to you; after he has served you six years. You shall let him go free from you;” but your fathers did not listen to Me nor obey Me. 15And you recently repented and did what was right in My sight, in proclaiming liberty to every man, his neighbor; and you even made a covenant before Me in the Temple which is called by My name: 16But then you turned around and profaned My name, and caused every man his servant, and his handmaid, whom you had set at liberty, to return back into subjection, as your slaves. 17Therefore thus says the LORD; “You have not listened to Me, in proclaiming liberty to everyone, his brother, and his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim a ‘liberty’ for you, says the LORD: ‘liberty’ to fall by the sword, pestilence, and famine; and I will scatter you into all the kingdoms of the earth. 18And I will treat the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not fulfilled the words of the covenant they had made before Me, like the calf when they cut it in two, and passed between these parts, 19The officials of Judah, and of Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf; 20I will give them over to their enemies, and to those who seek their life; and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the sky, and the beasts of the earth. 21And I will give Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his officials to their enemies, and to those who seek their life, and to the king of Babylon's army, who had withdrawn from you. 22Behold,” says the LORD, “I will cause them to return to this city; they shall assault and take it, and burn it; and I will make the cities of Judah desolate, without an inhabitant.”’”