34:1 The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when a
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 its
cities, saying,
(a) Who commonly by Jeremiah was called Nebuchadrezzar and
by others Nebuchadnezzar.
34:5 [But] thou shalt die in b peace: and with the burnings of
thy fathers, the former kings who were before thee, so
shall they burn [incense] for thee; and they will lament
thee, [saying], Ah c lord! for I have pronounced the
word, saith the LORD.
(b) Not of any violent death.
(c) The Jews will lament for you their lord and king.
34:8 [This is] the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD,
after king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people
who [were] at Jerusalem, d to proclaim liberty to them;
(d) When the enemy was at hand and they saw themselves in
danger, they would seem holy, and so began some kind of
reformation: but soon after they uttered their
hypocrisy.
34:9 That every man should release his male e servant, and
every man his female servant, [being] a Hebrew man or
woman; that none should retain them in service, [that is],
a Jew his brother.
34:15 And ye had 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 f the house which is called
by my name:
(f) Meaning in the temple to declare that it was a most
solemn and straight covenant made in the name of the
Lord.
34:17 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened to
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 g the sword, to the
pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be
removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.
(g) That is, I give the sword liberty to destroy you.
34:18 And I will give the men that have transgressed my
covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant
which they had made before me, when they h cut the calf
in two, and passed between the parts of it,
(h) Concerning the manner of solemn covenant which the
ancients used by passing between the two parts of a
beast, to signify that the transgressor of the same
covenant should be so divided in pieces, read
(Ge 15:10).
34:21 And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes I will 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 i are gone up from you.
(i) To fight against the Egyptians, as in (Jer 37:11).
