3. You will not escape from his powerful hand. You will certainly be captured. You will be handed over to him. You will see the king of Babylonia with your own eyes. He will speak with you face to face. And you will go to Babylon.
4. " ' "But listen to my promise, Zedekiah. Listen, king of Judah. I say that you will not be killed with a sword.
5. You will die in a peaceful way. People made fires to honor the kings who died before you. In the same way, they will make a fire in your honor. They will sob over you. They will say, 'My poor master!' I myself make this promise," announces the Lord.' "
6. Then I, the prophet Jeremiah, told all of that to King Zedekiah in Jerusalem.
7. At that time Nebuchadnezzar's armies were fighting against Jerusalem. They were also fighting against Lachish and Azekah. Those two cities were still holding out. They were the only cities left in Judah that had high walls around them.
8. A message came to me from the Lord. King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all of the people in Jerusalem. He had told them to set their Hebrew slaves free.
9. All of them had to do it. That applied to male and female slaves alike. No one was allowed to hold another Jew as a slave.
10. So all of the officials and people entered into that covenant. They agreed to set their male and female slaves free. They agreed not to hold them as slaves anymore. Instead, they set them free.
11. But later they changed their minds. They took back the people they had set free. They made them slaves again.
12. Then a message came to me from the Lord.
13. The Lord is the God of Israel. He says, "I made a covenant with your people long ago. I brought them out of Egypt. That is the land where they were slaves. I said,
14. 'Every seventh year you must set your people free. You must set free all of the Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. Let them serve you for six years. Then you must let them go free.' (Deuteronomy 15:12) But your people did not listen to me. They did not pay any attention to me.
15. "Recently you turned away from your sins. You did what is right in my eyes. Each of you set your Hebrew slaves free. You even made a covenant in front of me. You did it in the house where I have put my Name.
16. But now you have turned around. You have treated my name as if it were not holy. Each of you has taken back your male and female slaves. You had set them free to go where they wished. But now you have forced them to become your slaves again."
17. So the Lord says, "You have not obeyed me. You have not set your Hebrew slaves free. So now I will set you free," announces the Lord. "I will set you free to be destroyed by war, plague and hunger. I will make all of the kingdoms on earth displeased with you.