1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD , when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon , and all his army , and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion  , and all the people , fought against Jerusalem , and against all the cities of it, saying  2 So says the LORD , the God of Israel ; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah , and tell him, So says the LORD ; See, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon , and he will burn it with fire  3 And you will not escape out of his hand , but will surely be taken , and delivered into his hand ; and your eyes will see the eyes of the king of Babylon , and he will speak with you mouth to mouth , and you will go to Babylon  4 Yet hear the word of the LORD , O Zedekiah king of Judah ; So says the LORD of you, you will not die by the sword  5 [But] you will die in peace : and with the burnings of your fathers , the former kings which were before you, so will they burn [odours] for you; and they will lament you, [saying], Ah lord ! for I have pronounced the word , says the LORD  6 Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem  7 When the king of Babylon's army fought against Jerusalem , and against all the cities of Judah that were left , against Lachish , and against Azekah : for these defensed cities remained of the cities of Judah  8 [This is] the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD , after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which [were] at Jerusalem , to proclaim liberty  9 That every man should let his manservant , and every man his maidservant , [being] a Hebrew or a Hebrewess , go free ; that none should serve himself of them, [to wit], of a Jew his brother  10 Now when all the princes , and all the people , which had entered into the covenant , heard that every one should let his manservant , and every one his maidservant , go free , that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed , and let [them] go  11 But afterward they turned , and caused the servants and the handmaids , who they have let go free , to return , and brought them into subjection  for servants and for handmaids  12 Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD , saying  13 So says the LORD , the God of Israel ; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forward out of the land of Egypt , out of the house of bondmen , saying  14 At the end of seven years let you go every man his brother a Hebrew , which has been sold to you; and when he has served you six years , you will let him go free from you: but your fathers listened not to me, neither inclined their ear  15 And you were now turned , and had done right in my sight , in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour ; and you had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name  16 But you turned and polluted my name , and caused every man his servant , and every man his handmaid , who you had set at liberty at their pleasure , to return , and brought them into subjection , to be to you for servants and for handmaids  17 Therefore so says the LORD ; you have not listened to me, in proclaiming liberty , every one to his brother , and every man to his neighbour : see, I proclaim a liberty for you, says the LORD , to the sword , to the pestilence , and to the famine ; and I will make you to be removed  into all the kingdoms of the earth  18 And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant , which have not performed the words of the covenant which they have made before me, when they cut the calf in twain , and passed between the parts  19 The princes of Judah , and the princes of Jerusalem , the eunuchs , and the priests , and all the people of the land , which passed between the parts of the calf  20 I will even give them into the hand of their enemies , and into the hand of them that seek their life : and their dead bodies will be for meat to the fowls of the heaven , and to the beasts of the earth  21 And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies , and into the hand of them that seek their life , and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army , which are gone up  22 See, I will command , says the LORD , and cause them to return to this city ; and they will fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire : and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant