2. to say to King Zedekiah:I am the Lord, and I am going to let Nebuchadnezzar capture this city and burn it down.
11. But those slave owners changed their minds and forced their former slaves back into slavery.
12. That's when the Lord told me to say to the people:
13. I am the Lord God of Israel, and I made an agreement with your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, where they had been slaves.
14. As part of this agreement, you must let a Hebrew slave go free after six years of service.Your ancestors did not obey me,
17. You have disobeyed me by not giving your slaves their freedom. So I will give you freedom—the freedom to die in battle or from disease or hunger. I will make you disgusting to all other nations on earth.
18. You asked me to be a witness when you made the agreement to set your slaves free. And as part of the ceremony you cut a calf into two parts, then walked between the parts. But you people of Jerusalem have broken that agreement as well as my agreement with Israel. So I will do to you what you did to that calf.
21-22. These enemies are King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia and his army. They have stopped attacking Jerusalem, but they want to kill King Zedekiah and his high officials. So I will command them to return and attack again. This time they will conquer the city and burn it down, and they will capture Zedekiah and his officials. I will also let them destroy the towns of Judah, so that no one can live there any longer.