Jeremiah 34:8-22

8 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD after King Zedekiah had ¹made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to ²proclaim release to them:

9 that each man should set free his male servant and each man his female servant, a ³Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman; so that ⁴no one should keep them, a Jew his brother, in bondage.

10 And all the ⁵officials and all the people obeyed who had entered into the covenant that each man should set free his male servant and each man his female servant, so that no one should keep them any longer in bondage; they obeyed, and set them free.

11 But afterward * they turned around and took back the male servants and the female servants whom they had set free, and brought them into subjection for male servants and for female servants.

12 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

13 "Thus says the LORD God of Israel, 'I ⁶made a covenant with your forefathers in the day that I ⁷brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, saying,

14 "⁸At the end of seven years each of you shall set free his Hebrew brother who has been sold to you and has served you six years, you shall send him out free from you; but your forefathers ⁹did not obey Me or incline their ear to Me.

15 "Although recently you had turned and ¹⁰done what is right in My sight, each man proclaiming release to his neighbor, and you had ¹¹made a covenant before Me ¹²in the house which is called by My name.

16 "Yet you ¹³turned and ¹⁴profaned My name, and each man took back his male servant and each man his female servant whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them into subjection to be your male servants and female servants."'

17 "Therefore thus says the LORD, 'You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming release each man to his brother and each man to his neighbor. Behold, I am ¹⁵proclaiming a release to you,' declares the LORD, 'to the ¹⁶sword, to the pestilence and to the famine; and I will make you a ¹⁷terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

18 'I will give the men who have ¹⁸transgressed My covenant, who have not fulfilled the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they ¹⁹cut the calf in two and passed between its parts -

19 the ²⁰officials of Judah and the officials of Jerusalem, the court officers and the priests and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf -

20 I will give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who ²¹seek their life. And their ²²dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.

21 '²³Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon which has ²⁴gone away from you.

22 'Behold, I am going to command,' declares the LORD, 'and I will bring them back to this city; and they will fight against it and ²⁵take it and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a ²⁶desolation ²⁷without inhabitant.' "

Jeremiah 34:8-22 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 34

In this chapter is a prophecy of the taking and burning of Jerusalem; of the captivity of Zedekiah king of Judah; and of the destruction of the whole land, because of their breach of covenant to let servants go free. The time of this prophecy is observed, Jer 34:1,6,7; the taking and burning of the city, Jer 34:2; the carrying captive the king, who yet should not die a violent death, but in peace, and should have an honourable funeral, Jer 34:3-5; the covenant the king, princes, and people entered into, to let their servants go free, according to the law of God, which was at first observed, and afterwards retracted, Jer 34:8-11; which conduct is taken notice of and resented, Jer 34:13-16; and they are threatened with the sore judgments of God, sword, famine, pestilence, and captivity, the king, princes, priests, and people; and with the destruction, not on of Jerusalem, but of the rest of the cities of Judah, Jer 34:17-22.

Cross References

• 1. 2 Kings 11:17; 2 Kings 23:2, 3
• 2. Exodus 21:2; Lev 25:10, 39-46; Nehemiah 5:1-13; Isaiah 58:6; Jeremiah 34:14, 17
• 3. Genesis 14:13; Exodus 2:6
• 4. Leviticus 25:39
• 5. Jeremiah 26:10, 16
• 6. Ex 24:3, 7, 8; Deut 5:2, 3, 27; Jeremiah 31:32
• 7. Exodus 20:2
• 8. Exodus 21:2; Deuteronomy 15:12; 1 Kings 9:22
• 9. 1 Samuel 8:7, 8; 2 Kings 17:13, 14
• 10. Jeremiah 34:8
• 11. 2 Kings 23:3; Nehemiah 10:29
• 12. Jeremiah 7:10; Jeremiah 32:34
• 13. 1 Samuel 15:11; Jeremiah 34:11; Ezekiel 3:20; Ezekiel 18:24
• 14. Exodus 20:7; Leviticus 19:12
• 15. Leviticus 26:34, 35; Esther 7:10; Daniel 6:24; Matthew 7:2
• 16. Jeremiah 32:24; Jeremiah 38:2
• 17. Deuteronomy 28:25; Jeremiah 29:18
• 18. Deuteronomy 17:2; Hosea 6:7; Hosea 8:1; Romans 2:8
• 19. Genesis 15:10
• 20. Jeremiah 34:10; Ezekiel 22:27; Zephaniah 3:3, 4
• 21. Jeremiah 11:21; Jeremiah 21:7; Jeremiah 22:25
• 22. Deuteronomy 28:26; 1 Samuel 17:44, 46; 1 Kings 14:11; Jeremiah 16:4">Jeremiah 16:4; Psalms 79:2; Jeremiah 7:33; Jeremiah 16:4">Jeremiah 16:4; Jeremiah 19:7
• 23. 2 Kings 25:18-21; Jeremiah 32:3, 4; Jeremiah 39:6; Jeremiah 52:10, 24-27; Ezekiel 17:16
• 24. Jeremiah 37:5-11
• 25. Jeremiah 34:2; Jeremiah 39:1, 2, 8; Jeremiah 52:7, 13
• 26. Jeremiah 4:7; Jeremiah 9:11
• 27. Jeremiah 33:10; Jeremiah 44:22

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "liberty"
• [b]. Or "has sold himself"
• [c]. Or "liberty"
• [d]. Lit "caused them to return"
• [e]. Or "liberty"
• [f]. Or "liberty"