Jeremiah 34:1-22
Broken Covenant
1This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, all his army, all the earthly kingdoms under his control, and all the other nations were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding cities.
2The LORD, the God of Israel, told Jeremiah to go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him that this is what the LORD says: “Behold, I am about to deliver this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it down.
3And you yourself will not escape his grasp, but will surely be captured and delivered into his hand. You will see the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak with him face to face; and you will go to Babylon.
4Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what the LORD says concerning you: You will not die by the sword;
5you will die in peace. As spices were burned for your fathers, the former kings who preceded you, so people will burn spices for you and lament, ‘Alas, O master!’ For I Myself have spoken this word, declares the LORD.”
6In Jerusalem, then, Jeremiah the prophet relayed all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah
7as the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and the remaining cities of Judah—against Lachish and Azekah. For these were the only fortified cities remaining in Judah.
8After King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim liberty, the word came to Jeremiah from the LORD
9that each man should free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female, and no one should hold his fellow Jew in bondage.
10So all the officials and all the people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their menservants and maidservants and no longer hold them in bondage. They obeyed and released them,
11but later they changed their minds and took back the menservants and maidservants they had freed, and they forced them to become slaves again.
12Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
13“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your forefathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying:
14Every seventh year, each of you must free his Hebrew brother who has sold himself to you. He may serve you six years, but then you must let him go free. But your fathers did not listen or incline their ear.
15Recently you repented and did what pleased Me; each of you proclaimed freedom for his neighbor. You made a covenant before Me in the house that bears My Name.
16But now you have changed your minds and profaned My name. Each of you has taken back the menservants and maidservants whom you had set at liberty to go wherever they wanted, and you have again forced them to be your slaves.
17Therefore this is what the LORD says: You have not obeyed Me; you have not proclaimed freedom, each man for his brother and for his neighbor. So now I proclaim freedom for you, declares the LORD—freedom to fall by sword, by plague, and by famine! I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
18And those who have transgressed My covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before Me, I will treat 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,
20I will deliver into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.
21And I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives, to the army of the king of Babylon that had withdrawn from you.
22Behold, I am going to give the command, declares the LORD, and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it down. And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”
Berean Standard Bible
The LORD tells Zedekiah that Jerusalem will be handed to Babylon and the king will die in peace. The message is not that Zedekiah has been faithful; it says he will receive a burial and that people will mourn him. Judgment can still contain a measure of mercy.
The people had made a covenant to set their Hebrew slaves free. They cut a calf in two and passed between the pieces, taking a solemn oath. For a while they obeyed and released the slaves, but then they changed their minds and brought them back into bondage.
The LORD condemns them for profaning His name. Their ancestors had not listened, but this generation had publicly sworn freedom and then reversed itself when the pressure eased. The covenant ceremony becomes evidence against them rather than protection for them.
God will give them into the hands of their enemies, and the city will burn. The army of Pharaoh has withdrawn, but Babylon will return. Human beings who treat a promise as disposable cannot claim the LORD's covenant as a shield.
Questions
1 What did the people covenant to do?
AnswerThey covenanted to release their Hebrew slaves and let them go free.
2 How did they break the covenant?
AnswerAfter releasing the slaves, they changed their minds and brought them back into bondage.
3 Why was their reversal especially serious?
AnswerThey had made a solemn covenant before God and then profaned His name by treating it as disposable.
4 What would happen to Jerusalem?
AnswerBabylon would return, capture the city, and burn it despite the temporary withdrawal of Pharaoh's army.
What This Means for Us
God cares about the promise made when no one is watching afterward. A public commitment is tested when keeping it becomes costly or inconvenient.
Review the promises your household has made to workers, children, neighbors, and God. Repair broken commitments directly; do not use a solemn ceremony to hide a changed heart.
Prayer
God of covenant, forgive us for promises we have treated lightly. Give us courage to release people from burdens we placed on them and integrity to keep our word when convenience disappears. Amen.