Jeremiah 21-36: A Translation 35salem and against all the cities of Judah, the ones remaining to Lachish and to
Azekah, for they still remained among the cities of Judah, cities of fortification.
- The Covenant of Liberty: On Again Off Again (34:8-22)
34 8 The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh after King Zedekiah cut a
covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to proclaim liberty to
them,^9 to send away free each person his male slave and each person his fe-
male slave, Hebrew and Hebrewess, so that no person should make them serve
a Judahite, his kin.^10 And all the princes and all the people who entered into
the covenant gave heed to send away free each person his male slave and each
person his female slave, so that he should not make them serve again; and they
gave heed and sent them away.^11 Then they turned around after this and took
back the male slaves and female slaves that they had sent away free, and subju-
gated them to being male slaves and female slaves.^12 And the word of Yahweh
came to Jeremiah from Yahweh:
(^13) Thus said Yahweh, God of Israel:
I, I cut a covenant with your fathers in the day I brought them out from the
land of Egypt, from the house of slavery, saying,^14 After seven years' time
you shall send away each person his Hebrew kin who was sold to you and
served you six years, yes, you shall send him away free from your midst.
But your fathers did not listen to me and did not bend their ear.^15 And you,
you turned around one day and you did what is right in my eyes, to pro-
claim liberty each person to his fellow, and you cut a covenant before me
in the house upon which my name is called;^16 then you turned around and
profaned my name and took back each person his male slave and each per-
son his female slave whom you sent away free according to their desire,
and you subjugated them to be for you male slaves and female slaves.
(^17) Therefore thus said Yahweh:
You, you have not listened to me to proclaim liberty each person to his kin
and each person to his fellow.
Look I am proclaiming liberty to you-oracle of Yahweh-to the sword, to
the pestilence, and to the famine, and I will make you a fright to all the
kingdoms of the earth.^18 And I will make the men who walked over 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 walked between its parts-
19the princes of Judah and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs and the
priests, and all the people of the land who walked between the parts of
the calf.^20 And I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the
hand of those who seek their life, and their dead bodies shall become food
for the birds of the skies and the beasts of the earth.^21 And Zedekiah, king
of Judah, and his princes, I will give into the hand of their enemies and
into the hand of those who seek their life, into the hand of the army of the
king of Babylon, who have withdrawn from you.