Jeremiah34

Jeremiah delivers the LORD's prophecy to King Zedekiah, foretelling Jerusalem's capture and burning by Nebuchadnezzar, and Zedekiah's own captivity in Babylon, though he would die in peace. The chapter then details a broken covenant: Zedekiah and the people initially freed their Hebrew servants according to the law, but later re-enslaved them. For this transgression, the LORD declares a severe judgment of sword, pestilence, famine, and exile upon Judah. The Babylonian army, which had temporarily withdrawn, is promised to return to utterly destroy Jerusalem.
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Prophecy Concerning King Zedekiah

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This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, all his army, all the earthly kingdoms under his control, and all the other nations were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding cities. ​
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The LORD, the God of Israel, told Jeremiah to go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him that this is what the LORD says: “Behold, I am about to deliver this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down.
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And you yourself will not escape his grasp, but will surely be captured and delivered into his hand. You will see the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak with him face to face; and you will go to Babylon. ​
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Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what the LORD says concerning you: You will not die by the sword;
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you will die in peace. As spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who preceded you, so people will burn spices for you and lament, ‘Alas, O master!’ For I Myself have spoken this word, declares the LORD.” ​
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In Jerusalem, then, Jeremiah the prophet relayed all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah
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as the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and the remaining cities of Judah—against Lachish and Azekah. For these were the only fortified cities remaining in Judah. ​

The Broken Covenant of Freedom

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After King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim liberty, the word came to Jeremiah from the LORD ​
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that each man should free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female, and no one should hold his fellow Jew in bondage. ​
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So all the officials and all the people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their menservants and maidservants and no longer hold them in bondage. They obeyed and released them,
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but later they changed their minds and took back the menservants and maidservants they had freed, and they forced them to become slaves again. ​

Judgment for Violating the Law

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Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
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“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your forefathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying:
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Every seventh year, each of you must free his Hebrew brother who has sold himself to you. He may serve you six years, but then you must let him go free. But your fathers did not listen or incline their ear. ​
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Recently you repented and did what pleased Me; each of you proclaimed freedom for his neighbor. You made a covenant before Me in the house that bears My Name.
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But now you have changed your minds and profaned My name. Each of you has taken back the menservants and maidservants whom you had set at liberty to go wherever they wanted, and you have again forced them to be your slaves. ​
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Therefore this is what the LORD says: You have not obeyed Me; you have not proclaimed freedom, each man for his brother and for his neighbor. So now I proclaim freedom for you, declares the LORD—freedom to fall by sword, by plague, and by famine! I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ​
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And those who have transgressed My covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before Me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two in order to pass between its pieces. ​
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The officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf, ​
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I will deliver into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.
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And I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives, to the army of the king of Babylon that had withdrawn from you.
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Behold, I am going to give the command, declares the LORD, and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it down. And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.” ​

Study Notes for Jeremiah 34

Verse 1

This prophecy occurs during the final, intense phase of the siege of Jerusalem (588-586 BC), when Nebuchadnezzar's forces were actively engaging the remaining strongholds of Judah.

Verse 3

This verse predicts Zedekiah’s capture and face-to-face confrontation with Nebuchadnezzar. While Zedekiah was later blinded (2 Ki 25:7), the prophecy focuses on his failure to escape and his forced deportation.

Verse 5

The promise to 'die in peace' likely means dying naturally in exile, rather than being executed or tortured by the Babylonians. The 'burnings' (burning spices/odors) refers to the customary royal funeral rites, ensuring he received proper honor.

Verse 7

Lachish and Azekah were major fortified cities southwest of Jerusalem. This highlights the severity of the siege, confirming that these were the last Judean fortresses to fall before Jerusalem itself.

Verse 8

This section begins a new narrative, detailing an attempt by Zedekiah and the people to gain divine favor by observing the Mosaic Law regarding indentured servants.

Verse 9

The law required that Hebrew servants (indentured laborers, not chattel slaves) be released after six years of service (Exod 21:2; Deut 15:12). This covenant sought to rectify years of neglecting this law.

Verse 11

The people revoked the covenant, likely when the Babylonian army temporarily lifted the siege (Jer 37:5). This demonstrated a profound lack of commitment to God's law once the immediate threat subsided.

Verse 14

God references the covenant made at Sinai, establishing that the requirement to free indentured servants was a fundamental element of Israel’s identity as a people freed from slavery in Egypt.

Verse 16

By swearing a covenant in the Temple (the house called by God’s name) and immediately breaking it, they demonstrated contempt for God’s holiness and integrity, thus 'polluting' His name.

Verse 17

God uses powerful irony: since the people refused to proclaim liberty to their brothers, God proclaims a different kind of liberty—freedom for the sword, pestilence, and famine to ravage them.

Verse 18

This describes the ancient ritual for ratifying a covenant (cf. Gen 15:9–10). Cutting an animal in two and walking between the parts symbolized that covenant breakers would suffer the same fate as the animal.

Verse 19

The mention of 'princes,' 'eunuchs,' and 'priests' confirms that the highest ranks of society, who should have been models of obedience, participated in the covenant-breaking ritual.

Verse 22

This confirms that the temporary lifting of the siege (which led the people to re-enslave their servants) was only a pause. God guarantees the Babylonian army will return to execute final, devastating judgment.

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