1. The word which came to Yirmeyahu from יהוה, when Neḇuḵaḏnetstsar sovereign of Baḇel and all his army, and all the reigns of the earth under his rule, and all the people, fought against Yerushalayim and all its cities, saying,
2. “Thus said יהוה the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, ‘Go and speak to Tsiḏqiyahu sovereign of Yehuḏah and say to him, “Thus said יהוה, ‘See, I am giving this city into the hand of the sovereign of Baḇel. And he shall burn it with fire,
3. and you shall not escape out of his hand, but certainly be taken and given into his hand. And your eyes shall see the eyes of the sovereign of Baḇel, and his mouth shall speak with your mouth, and you shall go to Baḇel.’ ” ’
4. “But hear the word of יהוה, O Tsiḏqiyahu sovereign of Yehuḏah! Thus said יהוה concerning you, ‘You shall not die by the sword.
5. ‘In peace you are to die, and as in the burnings of spices for your fathers, the former sovereigns who were before you, so they shall burn spices for you and lament for you, saying, “Alas, master!” ’ For I have spoken the word,” declares יהוה.
6. And Yirmeyahu the prophet spoke all these words to Tsiḏqiyahu the sovereign of Yehuḏah in Yerushalayim,
7. while the sovereign of Baḇel’s army was fighting against Yerushalayim and all the cities of Yehuḏah that were left, against Laḵish and Azĕqah. For only these walled cities remained of the cities of Yehuḏah.
8. The word which came to Yirmeyahu from יהוה, after Sovereign Tsiḏqiyahu had made a covenant with all the people who were at Yerushalayim to proclaim release to them:
9. that everyone was to set free his male and female slave, the Heḇrew man and the Heḇrew woman, no one was to keep a Yehuḏite, his brother, enslaved.
10. And when all the heads and all the people who had come into the covenant heard that each one was to set free his male and female slaves, and not keep them enslaved any longer, they obeyed and released them.
11. But afterward they changed their minds and made the male and female slaves return, whom they had set free, and brought them into subjection as male and female slaves.