The Hebrew Prophets

Yet hear the word of the Lord, O Sedecias king of Juda: Thus saith the Lord to thee: Thou shalt not die by the sword.

But thou shalt die in peace, and according to the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings that were before thee, so shall they burn thee: and they shall mourn for thee, saying: Alas, Lord: for I have spoken the word, saith the Lord.

And Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Sedecias the king of Juda in Jerusalem.

And the army of the king of Babylon fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Juda that were left, against Lachis, and against Azecha: for these remained of the cities of Juda, fenced cities.

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after that king Sedecias had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem making a proclamation:

That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, go free: and that they should not lord it over them, to wit, over the Jews their brethren.

And all the princes, and all the people who entered into the covenant, heard that every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant go free, and should no more have dominion over them: and they obeyed, and let them go free.

But afterwards they turned: and brought back again their servants and their handmaids, whom they had let go free, and brought them into subjection as menservants and maidservants.

And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying:

Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying:

At the end of seven years, let ye go every man his brother being a Hebrew, who hath been sold to thee, so he shall serve thee six years: and thou shalt let him go free from thee: and your fathers did not hearken to me, nor did they incline their ear.

And you turned to day, and did that which was right in my eyes, in proclaiming liberty every one to his brother: and you made a covenant in my sight, in the house upon which my name is invocated.

And you are fallen back, and have defiled my name: and you have brought back again every man his manservant, and every man his maidservant, whom you had let go free, and set at liberty: and you have brought them into subjection to be your servants and handmaids.

Therefore thus saith the Lord: You have not hearkened to me, in proclaiming liberty every man to his brother and every man to his friend: behold I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine: and I will cause you to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth.

And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, and have not performed the words of the covenant which they agreed to in my presence, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts thereof:

The princes of Juda, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land that passed between the parts of the calf:

And I will give them into the hands of their enemies, and into the hands of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat to the fowls of the air, and to the beasts of the earth.

And Sedecias the king of Juda, and his princes, I will give into the hands of their enemies, and into the hands of them that seek their lives, and into the hands of the armies of the king of Babylon, which are gone from you.

Behold I will command, saith the Lord, and I will bring them again to this city, and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Juda a desolation, without an inhabitant.

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Joakim the son of Josias king of Juda, saying:

Go to the house of the Rechabites: and speak to them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers of the treasures, and thou shalt give them wine to drink.

And I took Jezonias the son of Jeremiah the son of Habsanias, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites.

And I brought them into the house of the Lord, to the treasure house of the sons of Hanan, the son of Jegedelias the man of God, which was by the treasure house of the princes, above the treasure of Maasias the son of Sellum, who was keeper of the entry.

And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine, and cups: and I said to them: Drink ye wine.

And they answered : We will not drink wine: because Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying: You shall drink no wine, neither you, nor your children, for ever: