Jeremiah 41

1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord while Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the land under his rule were fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah: 2 “This is what the Lord says: Go to Zedekiah king of Judah and say to him, This is what the Lord says: This city will surely be handed over into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will take it and burn it with fire.” 3 “And you will not be rescued from his hand; you will surely be captured and given into his hands. Your eyes will see his eyes, and his mouth will speak with your mouth, and you will go into Babylon.” 4 “But hear the word of the Lord, Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what the Lord says:” 5 “You will die in peace. As they wept for your fathers who reigned before you, so they will weep for you, and they will mourn for you, Alas, lord! For I have spoken the word, says the Lord.” [a] 6 And Jeremiah spoke all these words to King Zedekiah in Jerusalem, 7 while the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against the cities of Judah — against Lachish and Azekah, for these were the fortified cities left among the cities of Judah.

8 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with the people to proclaim a release: 9 that each one should send away his male servant and each one his female servant, the Hebrew man and the Hebrew woman, free, so that no man of Judah should be a slave. 10 All the nobles and all the people who had entered into the covenant — to send away each his male servant and each his female servant — turned around 11 and forced them back into being male and female servants.

12 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 13 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your fathers on the day I rescued them from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery, saying,” 14 “When six years are completed, you are to send away your Hebrew brother who was sold to you. He will work for you six years, and then you are to send him away free. But they did not listen to me and did not turn their ear.” 15 “Today they turned to do what is right in my sight, each one proclaiming a release to his neighbor, and they made a covenant before me in the house that is called by my name.” 16 “But then you turned around and treated my name as common, each one taking back his male servant and each one his female servant, whom you had sent away free to be their own, to be male and female servants for you.” 17 “Therefore, this is what the Lord says: You have not listened to me, to proclaim a release, each one to his neighbor. Look, I proclaim a release for you, says the Lord — to the sword and to the plague and to the famine — and I will give you over to be scattered among all the kingdoms of the earth.” [b] 18 “And I will give the men who have broken my covenant, who did not keep the covenant they made before me — the calf they made so as to serve it —” [c] 19 “the rulers of Judah and the men in power and the priests and the people:” 20 “I will give them to their enemies, and their corpses will be food for the birds of the sky and the wild animals of the earth.” 21 “And Zedekiah king of Judea and their rulers I will give into the hands of their enemies, and to the army of the king of Babylon — to those who are running off from them.” [d] 22 “Look, I am giving the command, says the Lord, and I will bring them back to this land. They will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire, and the cities of Judah too, and I will make them desolate, without inhabitants.”