1. King Nebuchadnezzar had a large army made up of people from every kingdom in his empire. He and his army were attacking Jerusalem and all the nearby towns, when the Lord told me
2. to say to King Zedekiah:I am the Lord, and I am going to let Nebuchadnezzar capture this city and burn it down.
3. You will be taken prisoner and brought to Nebuchadnezzar, and he will speak with you face to face. Then you will be led away to Babylonia.
4. Zedekiah, I promise that you won't die in battle.
5. You will die a peaceful death. People will mourn when you die, and they will light bonfires in your honour, just as they did for your ancestors, the kings who ruled before you.
6. I went to Zedekiah and told him what the Lord had said.
7. Meanwhile, the king of Babylonia was trying to break through the walls of Lachish, Azekah, and Jerusalem, the only three towns of Judah that had not been captured.
8-10. King Zedekiah, his officials, and everyone else in Jerusalem made an agreement to free all Hebrew men and women who were slaves. No Jew would keep another as a slave. And so, all the Jewish slaves were given their freedom.
11. But those slave owners changed their minds and forced their former slaves back into slavery.
12. That's when the Lord told me to say to the people:
13. I am the Lord God of Israel, and I made an agreement with your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt, where they had been slaves.
14. As part of this agreement, you must let a Hebrew slave go free after six years of service.Your ancestors did not obey me,
15-16. but you decided to obey me and do the right thing by setting your Hebrew slaves completely free. You even went to my temple, and in my name you made an agreement to set them free. But you have abused my name, because you broke your agreement and forced your former slaves back into slavery.