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"Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I myself made a covenant with your fathers when
1I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying,
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2'At the end of seven years each of you must set free the fellow Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years;
3you must set him free from your service.' But
4your fathers did not listen to me or incline their ears to me.
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You recently repented and did what was right in my eyes
5by proclaiming liberty, each to his neighbor, and
6you made a covenant before me in the
7house that is called by my name,
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but then you turned around
8and profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves,
9whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your slaves.
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"Therefore, thus says the LORD: You have not obeyed me
10by proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and to his neighbor;
11behold, I proclaim to you liberty
12to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine, declares the LORD.
13I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
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And the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of
14the covenant that they made before me, I will make them like
15the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts--
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the officials of Judah, the officials of Jerusalem,
16the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf.
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And I will give them into the hand of their enemies
17and into the hand of those who seek their lives.
18Their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.
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And
19Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon
20which has withdrawn from you.
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Behold,
21I will command, declares the LORD, and will
22bring them back to this city.
23And they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire.
24I will make the cities of Judah a desolation
25without inhabitant."