Jeremiah 34

Great(i) 1 These are the wordes which the Lord spake vnto Ieremy what tyme as Nabuchodonosor the kynge of Babylon, & all his Hostes (out of all the kingdomes that were vnder his power) & all hys people, fought agaynst Ierusalem and all the cyties therof. 2 Thus sayeth the Lorde God of Israel: Goo, & speake to Zedekiah the kynge of Iuda, and tell hym. The Lorde sendeth the thys worde: Beholde, I wyll delyuer thys cytie into the hande of the kyng of Babylon, he shall burne it, 3 and thou shalt not escape hys handes, but shalt be led awaye presoner, and deliuered into his power. Thou shalt loke the kynge of Babylon in the face, and he shal speake with the, mouth to mouth and then shalt thou goo to Babilon. 4 Yet heare the worde of the Lorde, O Zedekiah thou kynge of Iuda: Thus sayeth the Lorde vnto the. Thou shalt not be slayne with the swearde, 5 but shalt dye in peace. Lyke as thy fore fathers the kynges, thy progenitours, were brente: so shalt thou be brent also, and in thy mourninge they shall saye: oh Lord. For thus haue I determyned, sayeth the Lorde. 6 Then spake Ieremy the prophet all these wordes vnto Zedekiah kynge of Iuda in Ierusalem: 7 what tyme as the kynge of Babylons hooste beseged Ierusalem, and the remnaunt of the cyties. Namely, Lachis and Azecach, which yet remayned of the stronge defensed cyties of Iuda. 8 These are the wordes that the Lord spake vnto Ieremy the prophete, when Zedekiah was agreed with all the people at Ierusalem, that there shulde be proclamed a libertie: 9 so that euery man shuld let his seruaunt & handmayde go fre, Hebrue and Hebruesse, and no Iewe to holde hys brother as a bonde man. 10 Nowe as they had consented, all the princes and all the people which had gathered vnto this agrement that euery man shulde set at lybertie his bonde seruaunte and bonde woman and no longer to holde them bonde euen so they were obedient, & let them go free. 11 But afterwarde they repented, and toke agayne the seruauntes and hande maydens, whom they had lett go free, and so made them bonde againe. 12 For the which cause the worde of the Lorde came vnto Ieremye from the Lorde hym selfe, sayinge: 13 Thus sayeth the Lord God of Israel: I made a couenaunt with youre fathers, when I brought them out of Egypt, (that they shulde no more be bondmen) sayinge. 14 When seuen yeares are oute, euery man shall let hys bought seruaunte an Hebrue go fre, yf he haue serued hym syxe yeares. But youre fathers obeyed me not & herkened not vnto me. 15 As for you, ye were nowe turned, & did right before me, in that ye proclamed, eueryman to let his neighboure go free, and in that ye made a couenaunt before me, in the temple that beareth my name. 16 But yet ye haue turned youre selues agayne, and blasphemed my name. In this, that euery man hath requyred his seruaunt & handmayden agayne, whom ye had let go quyte and fre, & compelled them to serue you agayne, and to be youre bonde men, and bondwemen. 17 And therfore thus sayeth the Lorde: ye haue not obeyed me, euery man to proclame fredome vnto his brother & neyghboure: wherfore, I wyll call you vnto a fredome, sayeth the Lord: euen vnto the swearde, to the pestilence, & to honger, & will make you to be plaged in all the kyngdomes of the earth. 18 Yee, those men that haue broken my couenaunt, & not kepte the wordes of the appoyntement, which they made before me: when they hewed the calfe in two, & when there wente thorowe the two halfes therof: 19 The Prynces of Iuda, the Princes of Ierusalem, the gelded men, the Prestes and all the people of the lande, which wente thorowe the two sydes of the calfe. 20 Those men wyll I geue into the power of theyr enemies, & into the handes of them that folowe vpon theyr lyues. And their deed bodies shalbe meate for the foules of the ayre, & beastes of the felde. 21 As for Zedekiah the kynge of Iuda and hys Prynces, I wyll delyuer them into the power of their enemyes, and of them that desyre to slaye them, and into the hande of the kynge of Babylons hoste which nowe is departed from you: 22 But thorow my commaundement (sayeth the Lorde) they shal come agayne before thys cytye, they shall fyght agaynst it, wynne it, and burne it: Moreouer, I wyll laye the cyties of Iuda so waste, that no man shall dwell therin.