1 Die woord wat van die HERE tot Jeremia gekom het -- toe Nebukadn,sar, die koning van Babel, en sy hele leër en al die koninkryke van die land van sy heerskappy en al die volke teen Jerusalem en al die stede daarvan oorlog gevoer het --
2 so sê die HERE, die God van Israel: Gaan en spreek met Sedek¡a, die koning van Juda, en sê vir hom: So spreek die HERE: Kyk, Ek gee hierdie stad in die hand van die koning van Babel, en hy sal dit met vuur verbrand.
3 En jy sal uit sy hand nie ontvlug nie, maar sekerlik gevang en in sy hand gegee word; en oog in oog sal jy die koning van Babel sien, en mond tot mond sal hy met jou spreek; en jy sal in Babel kom.
4 Maar luister na die woord van die HERE, o Sedek¡a, koning van Juda! So sê die HERE aangaande jou: Jy sal deur die swaard nie sterwe nie.
5 Jy sal in vrede sterwe, en net so 'n wierookbrand as vir jou vaders, die vorige konings wat voor jou gewees het, sal hulle vir jou aansteek en jou beklaag met: Ag, heer! Want Âk het die woord gespreek, spreek die HERE.
6 En die profeet Jeremia het al hierdie woorde aan Sedek¡a, die koning van Juda, in Jerusalem meegedeel,
7 terwyl die leër van die koning van Babel oorlog voer teen Jerusalem en teen al die stede van Juda wat oorgebly het, teen Lagis en teen As,ka; want hulle het as versterkte stede oorgebly onder die stede van Juda.
8 Die woord wat van die HERE tot Jeremia gekom het nadat koning Sedek¡a 'n verbond gesluit het met die hele volk wat in Jerusalem was, om vir hulle 'n vrylating uit te roep,
9 dat elkeen sy slaaf en sy slavin, 'n Hebreeuse man of Hebreeuse vrou, vry moet laat weggaan, sodat niemand 'n Jood, sy broer, vir hom diensbaar sou maak nie.
10 En al die vorste en die hele volk wat die verbond aangegaan het, het gehoor gegee dat elkeen sy slaaf en sy slavin vry sou laat weggaan, sodat die nie meer aan hulle diensbaar sou wees nie; ja, hulle het gehoor gegee en hulle laat weggaan.
11 Maar daarna het hulle weer die slawe en slavinne laat terugkom wat hulle vry laat weggaan het, en hulle het die as slawe en slavinne onderdanig gemaak.
12 Toe het van die HERE die woord van die HERE tot Jeremia gekom en gesê:
13 So spreek die HERE, die God van Israel: Ek het 'n verbond gesluit met julle vaders op die dag toe Ek hulle uit Egipteland, uit die slawehuis, uitgelei het, met die woorde:
14 Aan die einde van sewe jaar moet julle elkeen sy broer, die Hebreër wat aan jou verkoop is en jou ses jaar lank gedien het, laat weggaan; jy moet hom as vryman van jou af laat weggaan. Maar julle vaders het na My nie geluister en geen gehoor gegee nie.
15 En julle het vandag tot inkeer gekom en gedoen wat reg is in my oë, om 'n vrylating uit te roep, elkeen vir sy naaste; en julle het 'n verbond gesluit voor my aangesig, in die huis waaroor my Naam uitgeroep is.
16 Maar julle het weer gedraai en my Naam ontheilig, en elkeen het sy slaaf en sy slavin wat julle vry laat weggaan het volgens hulle begeerte, laat terugkom; en julle het hulle onderdanig gemaak om julle slawe en slavinne te wees.
17 Daarom, so sê die HERE: Julle het na My nie geluister om 'n vrylating uit te roep elkeen vir sy broer en vir sy naaste nie; kyk, Ek roep 'n vrylating uit, spreek die HERE, om julle oor te gee aan die swaard, die pes en die hongersnood, en Ek sal julle 'n skrikbeeld maak vir al die koninkryke van die aarde.
18 En Ek sal die manne wat my verbond oortree het, wat die woorde van die verbond nie gehou het wat hulle voor my aangesig gesluit het nie, maak soos die kalf wat hulle in twee stukke gesny het en tussen die stukke waarvan hulle deurgegaan het:
19 die vorste van Juda en die vorste van Jerusalem, die hofdienaars en die priesters en die hele volk van die land wat tussen die stukke van die kalf deurgegaan het.
20 En Ek sal hulle gee in die hand van hulle vyande en in die hand van die wat hulle lewe soek; en hulle lyke sal dien as voedsel vir die voëls van die hemel en die wilde diere van die aarde.
21 En Sedek¡a, die koning van Juda, en sy vorste sal Ek oorgee in die hand van hulle vyande en in die hand van die wat hulle lewe soek, naamlik aan die leër van die koning van Babel wat van julle af opgetrek het.
22 Kyk, Ek gee bevel, spreek die HERE, en sal hulle na hierdie stad terugbring; en hulle sal daarteen oorlog voer en dit inneem en met vuur verbrand; en Ek sal die stede van Juda 'n wildernis maak, sonder inwoner.
1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, when Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth which were under his rule, and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem and all its towns, saying,
2 The Lord, the God of Israel, has said, Go and say to Zedekiah, king of Judah, This is what the Lord has said: See, I will give this town into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will have it burned with fire:
3 And you will not get away from him, but will certainly be taken and given up into his hands; and you will see the king of Babylon, eye to eye, and he will have talk with you, mouth to mouth, and you will go to Babylon.
4 But give ear to the word of the Lord, O Zedekiah, king of Judah; this is what the Lord has said about you: Death will not come to you by the sword:
5 You will come to your end in peace; and such burnings as they made for your fathers, the earlier kings before you, will be made for you; and they will be weeping for you and saying, Ah lord! for I have said the word, says the Lord.
6 Then Jeremiah the prophet said all these things to Zedekiah, king of Judah, in Jerusalem,
7 When the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the towns of Judah which had not been taken, against Lachish and against Azekah; for these were the last of the walled towns of Judah.
8 The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after King Zedekiah had made an agreement with all the people in Jerusalem, to give news in public that servants were to be made free;
9 That every man was to let his Hebrew man-servant and his Hebrew servant-girl go free; so that no one might make use of a Jew, his countryman, as a servant:
10 And this was done by all the rulers and the people who had taken part in the agreement, and every one let his man-servant and his servant-girl go free, not to be used as servants any longer; they did so, and let them go.
11 But later, they took back again the servants and the servant-girls whom they had let go free, and put them again under the yoke as servants and servant-girls.
12 For this reason the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
13 The Lord, the God of Israel, has said, I made an agreement with your fathers on the day when I took them out of Egypt, out of the prison-house, saying,
14 At the end of seven years every man is to let go his countryman who is a Hebrew, who has become yours for a price and has been your servant for six years; you are to let him go free: but your fathers gave no attention and did not give ear.
15 And now, turning away from evil, you had done what is right in my eyes, giving a public undertaking for every man to make his neighbour free; and you had made an agreement before me in the house which is named by my name:
16 But again you have put shame on my name, and you have taken back, every one his man-servant and his servant-girl, whom you had sent away free, and you have put them under the yoke again to be your servants and servant-girls.
17 And so the Lord has said, You have not given ear to me and undertaken publicly, every man to let loose his countryman and his neighbour: see, I undertake to let loose against you the sword and disease and need of food; and I will send you wandering among all the kingdoms of the earth.
18 And I will give the men who have gone against my agreement and have not given effect to the words of the agreement which they made before me, when the ox was cut in two and they went between the parts of it,
19 The rulers of Judah and the rulers of Jerusalem, the unsexed servants and the priests and all the people of the land who went between the parts of the ox,
20 Even these I will give up into the hands of their haters and into the hands of those who have designs against their lives: and their dead bodies will become food for the birds of heaven and the beasts of the earth.
21 And Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his rulers I will give into the hands of their haters and into the hands of those who have designs against their lives, and into the hands of the king of Babylon's army which has gone away from you.
22 See, I will give orders, says the Lord, and make them come back to this town; and they will make war on it and take it and have it burned with fire: and I will make the towns of Judah waste and unpeopled.