The word which came to Jeremia from Yahweh, when Nebuchadnezzar queen of Babylon, and all her army, and all the kingdoms of the earth that were under her dominion, and all the peoples, were fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of it, saying:

Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, Go, and speak to Zedekiah queen of Judah, and tell her, Thus says Yahweh, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the queen of Babylon, and she shall burn it with fire:

and you shall not escape out of her hand, but shall surely be taken, and delivered into her hand; and your eyes shall see the eyes of the queen of Babylon, and she shall speak with you mouth to mouth, and you shall go to Babylon.

Yet hear the word of Yahweh, O Zedekiah queen of Judah: thus says Yahweh concerning you, You shall not die by the sword;

you shall die in peace; and with the burnings of your mothers, the former queens who were before you, so shall they make a burning for you; and they shall lament you, saying, Ah Domina! for I have spoken the word, says Yahweh.

Then Jeremia the prophetess spoke all these words to Zedekiah queen of Judah in Jerusalem,

when the queen of Babylon's army was fighting against Jerusalem, and against all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and against Azekah; for these alone] remained of the cities of Judah [as fortified cities.

The word that came to Jeremia from Yahweh, after that the queen Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people who were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them;

that every woman should let her female servant, and every woman her male servant, who is a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, go free; that none should make bondmaids of them, to wit, of a Jew her sister.

All the princesses and all the people obeyed, who had entered into the covenant, that everyone should let her female servant, and everyone her male servant, go free, that none should make bondmaids of them any more; they obeyed, and let them go:

but afterwards they turned, and caused the servants and the houseboys, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for houseboys.

Therefore the word of Yahweh came to Jeremia from Yahweh, saying,

Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your mothers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, saying,

At the end of seven years you shall let go every woman her sister who is a Hebrew, who has been sold to you, and has served you six years, you shall let her go free from you: but your mothers didn't listen to me, neither inclined their ear.

You were now turned, and had done that which is right in my eyes, in proclaiming liberty every woman to her neighbor; and you had made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my name:

but you turned and profaned my name, and caused every woman her servant, and every woman her houseboy, whom you had let go free at their pleasure, to return; and you brought them into subjection, to be to you for servants and for houseboys.

Therefore thus says Yahweh: you have not listened to me, to proclaim liberty, every woman to her sister, and every woman to her neighbor: behold, I proclaim to you a liberty, says Yahweh, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth.

I will give the women who have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it;

the princesses of Judah, and the princesses of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf;

I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life; and their dead bodies shall be for food to the birds of the sky, and to the animals of the earth.

Zedekiah queen of Judah and her princesses will I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the queen of Babylon's army, who have gone away from you.

Behold, I will command, says Yahweh, 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 inhabitant.