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The Prophets · Old Testament

Jeremiah 34

Jeremiah 34: Zedekiah's end foretold and the freed servants taken back

General context

While Nebuchadnezzar, his army and all the kingdoms under him fight against Jerusalem and its cities, the Lord sends Jeremiah to Zedekiah. The city will be given to the king of Babylon and burned; Zedekiah will not escape but will see the king's eyes, speak with him mouth to mouth and go to Babylon. Yet he will not die by the sword; he will die in peace and be lamented. Jeremiah speaks these words while the army fights against Jerusalem and against Lachish and Azekah, the last defended cities of Judah. A second word comes after Zedekiah makes a covenant with all the people to proclaim liberty, so that every Hebrew manservant and maidservant is set free and no one holds a fellow Jew in service. The princes and people obey and release them, but afterward they turn and bring the freed servants back into subjection. The Lord recalls the covenant made with their fathers at the exodus, requiring release of a Hebrew brother after six years of service, which the fathers ignored. The people had done right, proclaiming liberty and making a covenant in the house called by the Lord's name, but they turned again and polluted that name. So the Lord proclaims a liberty for them to the sword, pestilence and famine. Those who passed between the parts of the calf, princes, eunuchs, priests and people, will be given to their enemies, and their bodies will feed birds and beasts. Zedekiah and his princes will be handed to the king of Babylon's army, which has gone up from the city; the Lord will bring it back to take and burn Jerusalem and make Judah's cities a desolation.

Cited passages: Jeremiah 34:1, Jeremiah 34:2, Jeremiah 34:3, Jeremiah 34:4, Jeremiah 34:5, Jeremiah 34:7, Jeremiah 34:8, Jeremiah 34:9, Jeremiah 34:10, Jeremiah 34:11, Jeremiah 34:13, Jeremiah 34:14, Jeremiah 34:15, Jeremiah 34:16, Jeremiah 34:17, Jeremiah 34:18, Jeremiah 34:19, Jeremiah 34:20, Jeremiah 34:21, Jeremiah 34:22

Jeremiah 34 (KJV)

1The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying,

2Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:

3And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.

4Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith the Lord of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword:

5But thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the Lord.

6Then Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem,

7When the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these defenced cities remained of the cities of Judah.

8This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them;

9That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother.

10Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go.

11But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.

12Therefore the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

13Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen, saying,

14At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear.

15And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name:

16But ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom ye had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids.

17Therefore thus saith the Lord; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.

18And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof,

19The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf;

20I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth.

21And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which are gone up from you.

22Behold, I will command, saith the Lord, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant.

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Historical context

Two words are marked, one during the fighting and one after the covenant of release. The first names Lachish and Azekah as the only defended cities left besides Jerusalem. The second closes with the Babylonian army having "gone up from you," a withdrawal the chapter does not explain; chapter 37 attributes the Chaldeans' departure to news of Pharaoh's army. Zedekiah is told both that he will go to Babylon and that he will die in peace rather than by the sword; chapter 52 later says the king of Babylon put him in prison till the day of his death, and the book gives no further account of that death. The release law recalled here matches the command in Deuteronomy about a Hebrew brother serving six years and going free in the seventh. The rite of cutting a calf and passing between its parts is described, not explained. The servants are identified as Hebrew and Hebrewess, and the offence is holding "a Jew his brother." The chapter does not say why the princes and people reversed the release, only that they did.

Cited passages: Jeremiah 34:1, Jeremiah 34:8, Jeremiah 34:7, Jeremiah 34:21, Jeremiah 37:5, Jeremiah 34:3, Jeremiah 34:5, Jeremiah 34:14, Deuteronomy 15:12, Jeremiah 34:18, Jeremiah 34:9, Jeremiah 34:11, Jeremiah 52:11

Literary context

The chapter turns on the word "liberty" and the word "turned." The people proclaim liberty and then revoke it; the Lord answers by proclaiming "a liberty for you" to sword, pestilence and famine, so the people's own term is handed back as sentence. "They turned" in verse 11 becomes "ye were now turned, and had done right" and then "But ye turned and polluted my name," a sequence of three turnings that the speech makes explicit. The narrator gives the covenant, the obedience and the reversal in three verses before the long divine speech interprets them. The personal word to Zedekiah is oddly gentle beside the corporate judgment: he will see the king's eyes and go to Babylon, yet die in peace and be lamented. The chapter holds two military moments, the army fighting against the last cities and the army gone up from the city, and the final verse promises its return. The rite of the divided calf makes the covenant's breach a matter of bodies, and the punishment answers in kind with bodies left for birds and beasts.

Cited passages: Jeremiah 34:8, Jeremiah 34:17, Jeremiah 34:11, Jeremiah 34:15, Jeremiah 34:16, Jeremiah 34:10, Jeremiah 34:5, Jeremiah 34:7, Jeremiah 34:22, Jeremiah 34:18, Jeremiah 34:20

Key moments

  1. Zedekiah will see the king's eyes (Jeremiah 34:3). The Lord tells Zedekiah he will be taken and speak with the king of Babylon face to face.
  2. Not by the sword (Jeremiah 34:5). Zedekiah is promised a peaceful death with lamentation.
  3. Lachish and Azekah (Jeremiah 34:7). Only these defended cities remain beside Jerusalem.
  4. Servants set free (Jeremiah 34:10). Princes and people obey the covenant and release their Hebrew servants.
  5. Freedom revoked (Jeremiah 34:11). The freed servants are brought back into subjection.
  6. A liberty to the sword (Jeremiah 34:17). The Lord turns the people's word back on them as judgment.
  7. The army will return (Jeremiah 34:22). The withdrawn Babylonian army will be brought back to burn the city.

For reflection

The princes and people did right in the Lord's sight, released their servants, and then brought them back into subjection. What makes a good act easier to undo than to keep?

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