Major Prophets · Chapter 34 of 52

Jeremiah 34

As Babylon fights against Jerusalem, God sends Jeremiah to tell Zedekiah the city will burn and he will be captured, though he will die in peace. Meanwhile the people make a covenant to free their Hebrew slaves, then break faith and re-enslave them. God rebukes this treachery: because they revoked the liberty they proclaimed, he proclaims a liberty for them to sword, famine, and pestilence, and gives the covenant breakers to their enemies.

What happens in Jeremiah 34

The word comes as Nebuchadnezzar and all his forces besiege Jerusalem and its remaining cities. God sends Jeremiah to Zedekiah with a personal message: the city will be given to Babylon and burned, and the king will be taken and speak with Nebuchadnezzar face to face, yet he will not die by the sword but in peace, with the honors of burial. The narrative then turns to a covenant Zedekiah had made with the people to release all Hebrew slaves, proclaiming liberty.

At first they obeyed, but afterward they reversed course and forced the freed servants back into bondage. God, who freed their fathers from Egypt and required release in the seventh year, denounces this profaning of his name. Since they took back the liberty they proclaimed, he proclaims a bitter liberty for them to the sword, famine, and pestilence, and hands the covenant breakers, who passed between the pieces of a calf, to their enemies.

Jeremiah 34 in context

During the final siege of Jerusalem around 588 to 587 BC, Zedekiah led the people to free Hebrew slaves, perhaps to gain fighting men or to seek God's favor. When Pharaoh's approaching army briefly lifted the siege, the owners reneged and seized their servants again.

The covenant ceremony of cutting a calf in two and passing between the pieces invoked that fate on any who broke it, echoing Genesis 15.

Main themes of Jeremiah 34

Jeremiah 34 (KJV)

1The word which came unto 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 thereof, saying, 2Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire: 3And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon. 4Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword: 5But thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the LORD. 6Then Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, 7When 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 defenced cities remained of the cities of Judah. 8This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them; 9That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother. 10Now 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. 11But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids. 12Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, 13Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen, saying, 14At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear. 15And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name: 16But ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom he had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids. 17Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith 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. 18And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof, 19The 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; 20I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth. 21And 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 from you. 22Behold, I will command, saith the LORD, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant.

Verses to carry from Jeremiah 34

“This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them;”Jeremiah 34:8

“And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name:”Jeremiah 34:15

“Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith 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.”Jeremiah 34:17

Reflection

The people did the right thing, then undid it when the cost rose. God saw the reversal, not just the initial gesture. Where have you started to obey and then quietly walked it back once pressure lifted? True obedience holds when circumstances change. Ask God to make your yes durable rather than convenient.

A prayer from Jeremiah 34