Jeremiah 34

A Prophecy against Zedekiah

1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when ¹Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army, with ²all the kingdoms of the earth that were under his dominion and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem and against all its cities, saying,

2 "Thus says the LORD God of Israel, '³Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and say to him: "Thus says the LORD, 'Behold, ⁴I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and ⁵he will burn it with fire.

3 '⁶You will not escape from his hand, for you will surely be captured and delivered into his hand; and you will ⁷see the king of Babylon eye to eye, and he will speak with you face to face, and you will go to Babylon.' "'

4 "Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah! Thus says the LORD concerning you, 'You will not die by the sword.

5 'You will die in peace; and as spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who were before you, so they will ⁸burn spices for you; and ⁹they will lament for you, "Alas, lord!"' For I have spoken the word," declares the LORD.

6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke ¹⁰all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem

7 when the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the remaining cities of Judah, that is, ¹¹Lachish and ¹²Azekah, for they alone remained as ¹³fortified cities among the cities of Judah.

8 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD after King Zedekiah had ¹⁴made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to ¹⁵proclaim release to them:

9 that each man should set free his male servant and each man his female servant, a ¹⁶Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman; so that ¹⁷no one should keep them, a Jew his brother, in bondage.

10 And all the ¹⁸officials 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 ¹⁹made a covenant with your forefathers in the day that I ²⁰brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, saying,

14 "²¹At 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 ²²did not obey Me or incline their ear to Me.

15 "Although recently you had turned and ²³done what is right in My sight, each man proclaiming release to his neighbor, and you had ²⁴made a covenant before Me ²⁵in the house which is called by My name.

16 "Yet you ²⁶turned and ²⁷profaned 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 ²⁸proclaiming a release to you,' declares the LORD, 'to the ²⁹sword, to the pestilence and to the famine; and I will make you a ³⁰terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

18 'I will give the men who have ³¹transgressed My covenant, who have not fulfilled the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they ³²cut the calf in two and passed between its parts -

19 the ³³officials 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 ³⁴seek their life. And their ³⁵dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth.

21 '³⁶Zedekiah 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 ³⁷gone 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 ³⁸take it and burn it with fire; and I will make the cities of Judah a ³⁹desolation ⁴⁰without inhabitant.' "

PREVIOUS Jeremiah 33 NEXT Jeremiah 35

Jeremiah 34 Commentary

Chapter 34

Zedekiah's death at Babylon foretold. (1-7) The Jews reproved for compelling their poor brethren to return to unlawful bondage. (8-22)

Verses 1-7 Zedekiah is told that the city shall be taken, and that he shall die a captive, but he shall die a natural death. It is better to live and die penitent in a prison, than to live and die impenitent in a palace.

Verses 8-22 A Jew should not be held in servitude above seven years. This law they and their fathers had broken. And when there was some hope that the siege was raised, they forced the servants they had released into their services again. Those who think to cheat God by dissembled repentance and partial reformation, put the greatest cheat upon their own souls. This shows that liberty to sin, is really only liberty to have the sorest judgments. It is just with God to disappoint expectations of mercy, when we disappoint the expectations of duty. And when reformation springs only from terror, it is seldom lasting. Solemn vows thus entered into, profane the ordinances of God; and the most forward to bind themselves by appeals to God, are commonly most ready to break them. Let us look to our hearts, that our repentance may be real, and take care that the law of God regulates our conduct.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)

Cross References 40

1. 2 Kings 25:1; Jeremiah 32:2; Jeremiah 39:1; Jeremiah 52:4
2. Jeremiah 1:15; Jeremiah 27:7; Daniel 2:37, 38
3. 2 Chronicles 36:11, 12; Jeremiah 22:1, 2; Jeremiah 37:1, 2
4. Jeremiah 21:10; Jeremiah 32:3; Jeremiah 34:22; Jeremiah 37:8-10
5. Jeremiah 32:29
6. 2 Kings 25:4, 5; Jeremiah 21:7; Jeremiah 32:4; Jeremiah 34:21
7. 2 Kings 25:6, 7; Jeremiah 39:6, 7
8. 2 Chronicles 16:14; 2 Chronicles 21:19
9. Jeremiah 22:18
10. 1 Samuel 3:18; 1 Samuel 15:16-24
11. Joshua 10:3, 5; 2 Kings 14:19; 2 Kings 18:14; Isaiah 36:2
12. Joshua 10:10; 2 Chronicles 11:9
13. 2 Chronicles 11:5-10
14. 2 Kings 11:17; 2 Kings 23:2, 3
15. Exodus 21:2; Lev 25:10, 39-46; Nehemiah 5:1-13; Isaiah 58:6; Jeremiah 34:14, 17
16. Genesis 14:13; Exodus 2:6
17. Leviticus 25:39
18. Jeremiah 26:10, 16
19. Ex 24:3, 7, 8; Deut 5:2, 3, 27; Jeremiah 31:32
20. Exodus 20:2
21. Exodus 21:2; Deuteronomy 15:12; 1 Kings 9:22
22. 1 Samuel 8:7, 8; 2 Kings 17:13, 14
23. Jeremiah 34:8
24. 2 Kings 23:3; Nehemiah 10:29
25. Jeremiah 7:10; Jeremiah 32:34
26. 1 Samuel 15:11; Jeremiah 34:11; Ezekiel 3:20; Ezekiel 18:24
27. Exodus 20:7; Leviticus 19:12
28. Leviticus 26:34, 35; Esther 7:10; Daniel 6:24; Matthew 7:2
29. Jeremiah 32:24; Jeremiah 38:2
30. Deuteronomy 28:25; Jeremiah 29:18
31. Deuteronomy 17:2; Hosea 6:7; Hosea 8:1; Romans 2:8
32. Genesis 15:10
33. Jeremiah 34:10; Ezekiel 22:27; Zephaniah 3:3, 4
34. Jeremiah 11:21; Jeremiah 21:7; Jeremiah 22:25
35. 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
36. 2 Kings 25:18-21; Jeremiah 32:3, 4; Jeremiah 39:6; Jeremiah 52:10, 24-27; Ezekiel 17:16
37. Jeremiah 37:5-11
38. Jeremiah 34:2; Jeremiah 39:1, 2, 8; Jeremiah 52:7, 13
39. Jeremiah 4:7; Jeremiah 9:11
40. Jeremiah 33:10; Jeremiah 44:22

Footnotes 7

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

Chapter Summary

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.