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Jeremiah 34

KJV · Chapter 34/52

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.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Jeremiah announces to Zedekiah that he will be captured but will die in peace. The chapter also tells how the people temporarily freed their Hebrew slaves, but then enslaved them again, breaking the promise.

Explanation

This episode exposes a serious hypocrisy: faced with the Babylonian threat, the people made a solemn covenant to free their Hebrew slaves, finally fulfilling an ancient law (Exodus 21:2) about release after six years of service — but as soon as the pressure of the siege seemed to ease (when the Egyptian army approached), they reversed course and enslaved these same people again. God responds by announcing that, since they did not carry out the freedom promised to the slaves, He would proclaim 'freedom' for them instead — to the sword, famine, and plague. It is a timeless warning against promises made under pressure and forgotten once the situation seems to improve.

Fun facts

  • The law releasing Hebrew slaves after six years of service comes from Exodus 21:2 and Deuteronomy 15:12, one of the most advanced social laws of the ancient Near East for its time.
  • The covenant ritual of 'passing between' the parts of a divided animal (v.18-19) was a solemn practice documented throughout the ancient Near East, also used by God with Abraham in Genesis 15.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Jeremiah 34:1Explicit wartime context: Nebuchadnezzar was leading not only the Babylonian army but troops from vassal kingdoms as well, all besieging Jerusalem and the rest of Judah’s cities at the same time.
  2. Jeremiah 34:2A direct, uncompromising message for Zedekiah: the city will be handed over to the king of Babylon and burned — the same prophecy repeated at several points in the book.
  3. Jeremiah 34:3It details the king’s personal fate: captured, brought face to face with Nebuchadnezzar, and led away to Babylon — which would come true, though in an even more brutal way (he would be blinded first, in chapter 39).
  4. Jeremiah 34:4A seemingly contradictory promise: Zedekiah will not die by the sword, despite everything — a note of personal mercy in the middle of the city’s overall judgment.
  5. Jeremiah 34:5It details that mercy: he would have a king’s funeral, with ritual mourning, like the kings before him — even losing the throne and his freedom, he would not die like a common criminal.
  6. Jeremiah 34:6It confirms that Jeremiah delivered this message personally and publicly to Zedekiah in Jerusalem — this is not a secondhand account.
  7. Jeremiah 34:7A military detail: by this time only two fortified cities besides the capital were still holding out — Lachish and Azekah — the rest had already fallen to the Babylonians.
  8. Jeremiah 34:8During the siege, King Zedekiah made a covenant to free the Hebrew slaves, fulfilling an old law (Exodus 21, Deuteronomy 15) that had long been ignored — but as soon as the Babylonian pressure temporarily eased (see chapter 37), the people enslaved those same servants again, showing the reform had only been wartime desperation.
  9. Jeremiah 34:9The content of the agreement: to free every Hebrew slave, man or woman, because enslaving a fellow Jew went against the longstanding Mosaic law (a limit of seven years of servitude).
  10. Jeremiah 34:10The agreement was carried out at first: the officials and the people obeyed and actually freed the Hebrew slaves — a rare moment of social reform in the midst of crisis.
  11. Jeremiah 34:11But the commitment did not last: after freeing them, the same owners went back on their word and enslaved again the people they had let go — the broken promise that triggers the judgment that follows.
  12. Jeremiah 34:12A transition formula: God’s answer to the betrayal of the release agreement arrives.
  13. Jeremiah 34:13God recalls the law’s origin: a condition of the covenant made at Sinai, right after bringing the people out of slavery in Egypt — the logic is that He set them free, so they too must set others free.
  14. Jeremiah 34:14It cites the specific rule: freeing the Hebrew slave after six years of service — a law their ancestors had already been ignoring for generations, it is nothing new.
  15. Jeremiah 34:15It acknowledges that this time, under the pressure of the siege, the people had finally done the right thing, making a formal covenant inside the temple itself to free the slaves.
  16. Jeremiah 34:16The central charge: after making the solemn covenant in the temple, the people profaned God’s name by going back on it and enslaving again those who had already been freed.
  17. Jeremiah 34:17The wordplay is cruel: since they refused to give real freedom to the slaves, God will give them a very different kind of freedom, over to the sword, famine, and plague. It is prophetic irony, using the same word in two opposite senses.
  18. Jeremiah 34:18It describes the ritual of the broken covenant: cutting a calf in half and walking between the pieces was the ancient gesture that sealed a pact (Genesis 15) — whoever broke the agreement accepted the fate of the dismembered animal.
  19. Jeremiah 34:19It lists who took part in the broken covenant: officials, court officers, priests, and the common people — all of Jerusalem’s leadership was involved both in the promise and in its betrayal.
  20. Jeremiah 34:20The punishment mirrors the ritual of the cut calf: the bodies of those who broke the covenant will become food for birds and wild animals, just like the calf itself was cut apart.
  21. Jeremiah 34:21Not even Zedekiah and his officials escape this sentence: they would be handed over to the Babylonian army, which at that moment had temporarily withdrawn (see chapter 37, when Egypt intervened).
  22. Jeremiah 34:22It confirms that the relief from the siege would be temporary: the Babylonians would come back, finish the conquest, and burn the city, leaving the rest of Judah’s cities uninhabited.

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