Jeremiah 34:12-22

12Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

13“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery, saying,

14‘At the end of seven years, each of you must let his fellow Hebrew who sold himself to you go. He may serve you six years, but then you must let him go free from your service.’ But your ancestors did not obey me or pay any attention.

15Today you repented and did what pleased me, each of you proclaiming freedom for his neighbor. You made a covenant before me at the house that bears my name.

16But you have changed your minds and profaned my name. Each has taken back his male and female slaves who had been set free to go wherever they wanted, and you have again forced them to be your slaves.

17“Therefore, this is what the Lord says: You have not obeyed me by proclaiming freedom, each for his fellow Hebrew and for his neighbor. I hereby proclaim freedom for you  — this is the Lord’s declaration — to the sword, to plague, and to famine! I will make you a horror to all the earth’s kingdoms.

18As for those who disobeyed my covenant, not keeping the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat them like the calf they cut in two in order to pass between its pieces.

19The 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 —

20all these I will hand over to their enemies, to those who intend to take their life. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the sky and for the wild animals of the land.

21I will hand King Zedekiah of Judah and his officials over to their enemies, to those who intend to take their lives, to the king of Babylon’s army that is withdrawing.

22I am about to give the command — this is the Lord’s declaration — and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it. I will make Judah’s cities a desolation, without inhabitant.”