could my covenant with my servant David and my covenant with the Levites ever be broken. So David will by all means always have a descendant to occupy his throne as king and the Levites will by all means always have priests who will minister before me.

Everyone was supposed to free their male and female Hebrew slaves. No one was supposed to keep a fellow Judean enslaved.

“The Lord God of Israel has a message for you. ‘I made a covenant with your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt where they had been slaves. It stipulated,

Neither he nor any of his attendants showed any alarm when they heard all that had been read. Nor did they tear their clothes to show any grief or sorrow.

Neither he nor the officials who served him nor the people of Judah paid any attention to what the Lord said through the prophet Jeremiah.

Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah, “What crime have I committed against you, or the officials who serve you, or the people of Judah? What have I done to make you people throw me into prison?

I sent my servants the prophets to you people over and over again warning you not to do this disgusting thing I hate.

I will hand them over to Nebuchadnezzar and his troops, who want to kill them. But later on, people will live in Egypt again as they did in former times. I, the Lord, affirm it!”

I will set one shepherd over them, and he will feed them – namely, my servant David. He will feed them and will be their shepherd.

“‘My servant David will be king over them; there will be one shepherd for all of them. They will follow my regulations and carefully observe my statutes.

But if he gives a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, it will be his until the year of liberty; then it will revert to the prince. His inheritance will only remain with his sons.

“Please test your servants for ten days by providing us with some vegetables to eat and water to drink.

Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who are eating the royal delicacies; deal with us in light of what you see.”

We have not paid attention to your servants the prophets, who spoke by your authority to our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors, and to all the inhabitants of the land as well.

We have not obeyed the LORD our God by living according to his laws that he set before us through his servants the prophets.

“So now, our God, accept the prayer and requests of your servant, and show favor to your devastated sanctuary for your own sake.

Certainly the sovereign Lord does nothing without first revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

In fact, I brought you up from the land of Egypt, I delivered you from that place of slavery. I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to lead you.

“I am about to punish them in such a way,” he says, “that they will be looted by their own slaves.” Then you will know that the Lord who rules over all has sent me.

“Remember the law of my servant Moses, to whom at Horeb I gave rules and regulations for all Israel to obey.