The Gibeonites Avenged

21 During the reign of David, there was a famine^(A) for three successive years; so David sought^(B) the face of the Lord. The Lord said, “It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death.”

² The king summoned the Gibeonites^(C) and spoke to them. (Now the Gibeonites were not a part of Israel but were survivors of the Amorites; the Israelites had sworn to spare them, but Saul in his zeal for Israel and Judah had tried to annihilate them.) ³ David asked the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? How shall I make atonement so that you will bless the Lord’s inheritance?”^(D)

⁴ The Gibeonites answered him, “We have no right to demand silver or gold from Saul or his family, nor do we have the right to put anyone in Israel to death.”^(E)

“What do you want me to do for you?” David asked.

⁵ They answered the king, “As for the man who destroyed us and plotted against us so that we have been decimated and have no place anywhere in Israel, ⁶ let seven of his male descendants be given to us to be killed and their bodies exposed^(F) before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul—the Lord’s chosen^(G) one.”

So the king said, “I will give them to you.”

Freedom for Slaves

⁸ The word came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people^(A) in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom^(B) for the slaves. ⁹ Everyone was to free their Hebrew slaves, both male and female; no one was to hold a fellow Hebrew in bondage.^{(C) 10} So all the officials and people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their male and female slaves and no longer hold them in bondage. They agreed, and set them free. ¹¹ But afterward they changed their minds^(D) and took back the slaves they had freed and enslaved them again.

¹² Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ¹³ “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I made a covenant with your ancestors^(E) when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.^(F) I said, ¹⁴ ‘Every seventh year each of you must free any fellow Hebrews who have sold themselves to you. After they have served you six years, you must let them go free.’^[a](G) Your ancestors, however, did not listen to me or pay attention^(H) to me. ¹⁵ Recently you repented and did what is right in my sight: Each of you proclaimed freedom to your own people.^(I) You even made a covenant before me in the house that bears my Name.^{(J) 16} But now you have turned around^(K) and profaned^(L) my name; each of you has taken back the male and female slaves you had set free to go where they wished. You have forced them to become your slaves again.

¹⁷ “Therefore this is what the Lord says: You have not obeyed me; you have not proclaimed freedom to your own people. So I now proclaim ‘freedom’ for you,^(M) declares the Lord—‘freedom’ to fall by the sword, plague^(N) and famine.^(O) I will make you abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth.^{(P) 18} Those who have violated my covenant^(Q) and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two and then walked between its pieces.^{(R) 19} The leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials,^(S) the priests and all the people of the land who walked between the pieces of the calf, ²⁰ I will deliver^(T) into the hands of their enemies who want to kill them.^(U) Their dead bodies will become food for the birds and the wild animals.^(V)

²¹ “I will deliver Zedekiah^(W) king of Judah and his officials^(X) into the hands of their enemies^(Y) who want to kill them, to the army of the king of Babylon,^(Z) which has withdrawn^(AA) from you. ²² I am going to give the order, declares the Lord, and I will bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, take^(AB) it and burn^(AC) it down. And I will lay waste^(AD) the towns of Judah so no one can live there.”

¹³ Then he took a member of the royal family and made a treaty^(A) with him, putting him under oath.^(B) He also carried away the leading men^(C) of the land, ¹⁴ so that the kingdom would be brought low,^(D) unable to rise again, surviving only by keeping his treaty. ¹⁵ But the king rebelled^(E) against him by sending his envoys to Egypt^(F) to get horses and a large army.^(G) Will he succeed? Will he who does such things escape? Will he break the treaty and yet escape?^(H)

¹⁶ “‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, he shall die^(I) in Babylon, in the land of the king who put him on the throne, whose oath he despised and whose treaty he broke.^{(J) 17} Pharaoh^(K) with his mighty army and great horde will be of no help to him in war, when ramps^(L) are built and siege works erected to destroy many lives.^{(M) 18} He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Because he had given his hand in pledge^(N) and yet did all these things, he shall not escape.

¹⁹ “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, I will repay him for despising my oath and breaking my covenant.^(O)