14 At the end of seven years ye do send forth each his brother, the Hebrew, who is sold to thee, and hath served thee six years, yea, thou hast sent him forth free from thee: and your fathers hearkened not unto Me, nor inclined their ear.
`When thy brother is sold to thee, a Hebrew or a Hebrewess, and he hath served thee six years -- then in the seventh year thou dost send him away free from thee.
And Jehovah testifieth against Israel, and against Judah, by the hand of every prophet, and every seer, saying, `Turn back from your evil ways, and keep My commands, My statutes, according to all the law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent unto you by the hand of My servants the prophets;' and they have not hearkened, and harden their neck, like the neck of their fathers, who did not remain stedfast in Jehovah their God,
And Jehovah saith unto Samuel, `Hearken to the voice of the people, to all that they say unto thee, for thee they have not rejected, but Me they have rejected, from reigning over them. According to all the works that they have done from the day of My bringing them up out of Egypt, even unto this day, when they forsake Me, and serve other gods -- so they are doing also to thee.
The word that hath been unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, after the making by the king Zedekiah of a covenant with all the people who `are' in Jerusalem, to proclaim to them liberty, to send out each his man-servant, and each his maid-servant -- the Hebrew and the Hebrewess -- free, so as not to lay service on them, any on a Jew his brother;
for we have known that the law is spiritual, and I am fleshly, sold by the sin; for that which I work, I do not acknowledge; for not what I will, this I practise, but what I hate, this I do. And if what I do not will, this I do, I consent to the law that `it is' good, and now it is no longer I that work it, but the sin dwelling in me,
And they refuse to attend, And they give a refractory shoulder, And their ears have made heavy against hearing. And their heart they have made adamant, Against hearing the law, and the words, That Jehovah of Hosts sent by His Spirit, By the hand of the former prophets, And their is great wrath from Jehovah of Hosts.
Thus said Jehovah: For three transgressions of Israel, And for four, I do not reverse it, Because of their selling for silver the righteous, And the needy for a pair of sandals.
And -- they rebel against Me, And have not been willing to hearken to Me, Each, the detestable things of their eyes, They have not cast away, And the idols of Egypt have not forsaken, And I say -- to pour out My fury on them, To complete Mine anger against them, In the midst of the land of Egypt.
`And these `are' the judgments which thou dost set before them: `When thou buyest a Hebrew servant -- six years he doth serve, and in the seventh he goeth out as a freeman for nought; if by himself he cometh in, by himself he goeth out; if he `is' owner of a wife, then his wife hath gone out with him; if his lord give to him a wife, and she hath borne to him sons or daughters -- the wife and her children are her lord's, and he goeth out by himself.
For the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah have been only doing evil in Mine eyes, from their youth; for the sons of Israel are only provoking Me with the work of their hands -- an affirmation of Jehovah.
And they have not hearkened nor inclined their ear, And they walk each in the stubbornness of their evil heart, And I bring on them all the words of this covenant, That I commanded to do, and they did not.' And Jehovah saith unto me: `A conspiracy is found in the men of Judah, And in the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned back to the iniquities of their first fathers, Who refused to hear My words, And they have gone after other gods to serve them, The house of Israel, and the house of Judah, Have made void My covenant, that I made with their fathers.
Even from the day when your fathers Went out of the land of Egypt till this day, I send to you all my servants the prophets, Daily rising early and sending, And they have not hearkened unto Me, Nor inclined their ear, and harden their neck, They have done evil above their fathers.
Is not this the fast that I chose -- To loose the bands of wickedness, To shake off the burdens of the yoke, And to send out the oppressed free, And every yoke ye draw off?
`And Thou drawest over them many years, and testifiest against them by Thy Spirit, by the hand of Thy prophets, and they have not given ear, and Thou dost give them into the hand of peoples of the lands,
and they are mocking at the messengers of God, and despising His words, and acting deceitfully with His prophets, till the going up of the fury of Jehovah against His people -- till there is no healing.
surely there hath none been like Ahab, who sold himself to do the evil thing in the eyes of Jehovah, whom Jezebel his wife hath moved,
`And six years thou dost sow thy land, and hast gathered its increase; and the seventh thou dost release it, and hast left it, and the needy of thy people have eaten, and their leaving doth the beast of the field eat; so dost thou to thy vineyard -- to thine olive-yard.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 34
Commentary on Jeremiah 34 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 34
In this chapter we have two messages which God sent by Jeremiah.
Jer 34:1-7
This prophecy concerning Zedekiah was delivered to Jeremiah, and by him to the parties concerned, before he was shut up in the prison, for we find this prediction here made the ground of his commitment, as appears by the recital of some passages out of it, ch. 32:4. Observe,
Jer 34:8-22
We have here another prophecy upon a particular occasion, the history of which we must take notice of, as necessary to give light to the prophecy.