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The Word that came to Yirmeyahu from Yahuah when Nevukhadretztzar sovereign of Bavel, all his army, all the kingdoms of the earth under the rule of his hand, and all the peoples fought against Yerushalayim and against all its cities, saying,
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“Thus says Yahuah, Elohim of Yisra’el: Go and speak to Tzidqiyahu sovereign of Yehudah, and say to him, ‘Thus says Yahuah: See, I am giving this city into the hand of the sovereign of Bavel, and he shall burn it with fire.
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And you shall not escape from his hand, but capturing, you shall be captured and given into his hand. Your eyes shall see the eyes of the sovereign of Bavel, and his mouth shall speak with your mouth, and to Bavel you shall go.’
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Yet hear the Word of Yahuah, Tzidqiyahu sovereign of Yehudah. Thus says Yahuah concerning you: ‘You shall not die by the sword.
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In shalom you shall die. And according to the burnings for your fathers, the former sovereigns who were before your face, so they shall make a burning for you. And they shall lament for you, “Ah, master!” For I have spoken the Word,’” declares Yahuah.
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And Yirmeyahu the prophet spoke to Tzidqiyahu sovereign of Yehudah all these Words in Yerushalayim,
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while the army of the sovereign of Bavel fought against Yerushalayim and against all the cities of Yehudah remaining— against Lakhish and against Azeqah— for these remained among the cities of Yehudah as fortified cities.
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The Word that came to Yirmeyahu from Yahuah after Sovereign Tzidqiyahu had cut a Covenant with all the people in Yerushalayim to proclaim freedom to them:
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that each ish should send away free his Ivri servant and his Ivriyah servant, so that no ish should make his brother, an ish of Yehudah, serve.
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And all the rulers and all the people heard who had entered the Covenant that each ish should send away free his male servant and his female servant, so as not to make them serve again. And they heard and sent them away.
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But afterward they turned and caused the male servants and female servants whom they had sent away free to return, and subdued them as male servants and female servants.
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And the Word of Yahuah came to Yirmeyahu from Yahuah, saying,
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“Thus says Yahuah, Elohim of Yisra’el: I cut a Covenant with your fathers in the day I brought them out from the land of Mitzrayim, from the house of servants, saying,
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‘At the end of seven years each ish shall send away his Ivri brother who was sold to you and served you six years. You shall send him away free from you.’ But your fathers did not hear Me or incline their ear.
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And you had returned this day and done what is upright in My eyes, each ish proclaiming freedom to his companion; and you cut a Covenant before My face in the House upon which My Name is called.
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But you turned and profaned My Name. Each ish caused his male servant and each ish his female servant whom you had sent away free according to their being to return, and you subdued them to become your male servants and female servants.
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Therefore thus says Yahuah: You have not heard Me, to proclaim freedom, each ish to his brother and each ish to his companion. See, I am proclaiming freedom to you,” declares Yahuah, “to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine; and I shall give you for horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
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And I shall give the men who transgressed My Covenant, who did not establish the Words of the Covenant that they cut before My face— the calf that they cut in two and passed between its portions—
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the rulers of Yehudah, the rulers of Yerushalayim, the eunuchs, the Kohenim, and all the people of the land who passed between the portions of the calf.
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I shall give them into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those seeking their being. And their corpses shall become food for the birds of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth.
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And Tzidqiyahu sovereign of Yehudah and his rulers I shall give into the hand of their enemies, into the hand of those seeking their being, and into the hand of the army of the sovereign of Bavel who have ascended away from you.
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See, I am commanding,” declares Yahuah, “and I shall return them to this city. They shall fight against it, capture it, and burn it with fire. And the cities of Yehudah I shall make a desolation, without inhabitant.”