Jeremiah Chapter 34

At a Glance

  • Jeremiah 34 centers on a dramatic moment of covenantal decision in the siege of Jerusalem.
  • The chapter wrestles with the tension between political expediency and covenant faithfulness.
  • This chapter sits in the midst of the Babylonian crisis, with Zedekiah as a puppet king under Babylonian domination.
  • - Covenant fidelity versus political expediency: the danger of abandoning moral commitments under pressure.
  • - Social justice and liberty: the humane treatment of servants and the obligation to free them.

Jeremiah 34 centers on a dramatic moment of covenantal decision in the siege of Jerusalem. The chapter opens with divine pronouncement that the city will fall to the Babylonians and will be burned. Yet the Lord speaks a paradoxical mercy for Zedekiah: he shall not die by the sword but will die in peace, with bathings and funeral rites like his predecessors. Jeremiah then reappears before the king, delivering a word of judgment and then a counter-narrative: a covenantal call to liberty. The people had previously entered into a covenant promising freedom for Hebrew servants, to let them go and cease bondage. When the people heard the pledge, many obeyed and released their servants. However, after fear of foreign army subsided, the people reneged on the covenant, reversing their earlier act of mercy. Jeremiah condemns this hypocritical renunciation and calls for consistent obedience to God’s command to extend liberty and justice to the vulnerable.

The chapter wrestles with the tension between political expediency and covenant faithfulness. It invites readers to recognize that true freedom under God requires integrity, mercy to the vulnerable, and continued obedience even when fear or political pressure grows. The narrative thus offers a sobering reminder that outward religious actions without sustained ethical practice do not please God. The ending leaves readers with a call to align life with the deeper ethical demands of the covenant: justice for workers, mercy, and steadfast faithfulness to God’s law.

This chapter sits in the midst of the Babylonian crisis, with Zedekiah as a puppet king under Babylonian domination. The legal and covenantal imagery—the manumission of Hebrew servants and the later violation of that covenant—reflects the ethical code of the Deuteronomic tradition, emphasizing justice, mercy, and the responsibility of rulers toward the vulnerable. The chapter uses prophetic judgment paired with a demonstration of the people’s wavering faithfulness, illustrating the broader pattern of exile-era prophetic critique of political and social behavior. The structure—divine decree, prophetic rebuke, and the people’s inconsistent obedience—highlights the tension between God’s ideal for social justice and the people’s often self-serving responses.

- Covenant fidelity versus political expediency: the danger of abandoning moral commitments under pressure.

- Social justice and liberty: the humane treatment of servants and the obligation to free them.

- The danger of partial obedience: outward religious acts without ethical consistency do not satisfy God.

- God’s sovereignty amid catastrophe: judgment arrives, but mercy remains possible when humility and repentance occur.

Jeremiah 34 challenges contemporary readers to consider how their institutions and communities treat workers and vulnerable people. It warns against vacillating ethics under fear or political pressure. Practical applications include fair labor practices, prompt freeing of unjust labor, and ongoing commitments to justice even when outcomes seem uncertain. The chapter also invites believers to reflect on genuine repentance: not merely repeating ritual acts, but aligning actions with God’s moral demands. For churches and organizations, it’s a prompt to examine policies around employment, debt, and social welfare, ensuring that freedom and dignity are protected for all people, especially the least advantaged.

- Deuteronomy 15 (liberty and release of debt)

- Leviticus 25 (Jubilee principles)

- Jeremiah 22:13-17 (justice for the vulnerable)

- Amos 5:24 (let justice roll down)

- Micah 6:8 (do justice, love kindness, walk humbly)

- Moses (covenant law and justice)

- Jesus (fulfillment of true mercy and righteous living)

- Paul (ethical community life)

- An Old Covenant prophet voice (to emphasize justice ethics)

Key Themes

Covenant fidelity versus political expediency: the danger of abandoning moral commitments under pressure.Social justice and liberty: the humane treatment of servants and the obligation to free them.The danger of partial obedience: outward religious acts without ethical consistency do not satisfy God.God’s sovereignty amid catastrophe: judgment arrives, but mercy remains possible when humility and repentance occur.

Chapter Text

1

The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and all his army, and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion, and all the people, fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities thereof, saying,

2

Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:

3

And thou shalt not escape out of his hand, but shalt surely be taken, and delivered into his hand; and thine eyes shall behold the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he shall speak with thee mouth to mouth, and thou shalt go to Babylon.

4

Yet hear the word of the LORD, O Zedekiah king of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of thee, Thou shalt not die by the sword:

5

But thou shalt die in peace: and with the burnings of thy fathers, the former kings which were before thee, so shall they burn odours for thee; and they will lament thee, saying, Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word, saith the LORD.

6

Then Jeremiah the prophet spake all these words unto Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem,

7

When the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish, and against Azekah: for these defenced cities remained of the cities of Judah.

8

This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them;

9

That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant, being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother.

10

Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant, heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go.

11

But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.

12

Therefore the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

13

Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondmen, saying,

14

At the end of seven years let ye go every man his brother an Hebrew, which hath been sold unto thee; and when he hath served thee six years, thou shalt let him go free from thee: but your fathers hearkened not unto me, neither inclined their ear.

15

And ye were now turned, and had done right in my sight, in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour; and ye had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name:

16

But ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom he had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids.

17

Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.

18

And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof,

19

The princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, which passed between the parts of the calf;

20

I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life: and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth.

21

And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of them that seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which are gone up from you.

22

Behold, I will command, saith the LORD, and cause them to return to this city; and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire: and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without an inhabitant.

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