When Repentance Doesn’t Last — Jeremiah 34:1–22

The recording, chapter markers and searchable transcript appear here once the Sunday video is available.

In this message

God sees through temporary obedience and calls for lasting faithfulness.
Fear of man will always produce compromise and delayed obedience is still disobedience.
Public vows made in God’s name are serious business, and God expects promises lived out, not just piously made.
Breaking covenant after a public “repentance” invites real consequences, not a second round of bargaining.
Jesus bore the curse of the broken covenant, so believers should not go back into prisons of bitterness and score-keeping.

The passage

The verses Lee stops on. Read Jeremiah 34 in full.

Jeremiah 34:1

1While Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army and all the kingdoms and peoples in the empire he ruled were fighting against Jerusalem and all its surrounding towns, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

Jeremiah is told to prophesy that the city of Jerusalem is to be burned with fire by the king of Babylon and that Zedekiah himself will be taken captive. Verse 1 says “all the kingdoms were fighting against Jerusalem.” In other words, this isn’t just one enemy at the gate—this is a coalition. Humanly speaking, they’re done.

Jeremiah 34:15

15Recently you repented and did what is right in my sight: Each of you proclaimed freedom to your own people. You even made a covenant before me in the house that bears my Name.

At one point during the siege, Zedekiah and the people made a covenant with the Lord in the temple (34:15) to free all the Jewish salves. A calf was slain and then cut in half and the priests, officers, and people walked between the halves as a sign that they would obey the terms of the covenant (vv. 18-19; Gen 15:17). In so doing, they were agreeing to free their Jewish salves or be willing to suffer what the calf had suffered. The Jews hadn’t done this for years, and now they decided it was a good thing to do.

Jeremiah 34:17

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, declares the Lord—‘freedom’ to fall by the sword, plague and famine. I will make you abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth.

And now it happens. The siege lightens briefly. Nebuchadnezzar goes to confront Egypt (Jeremiah 37). And Judah breathes. And what do they do? They take the servants back. They reverse their promise. They break covenant. The solemn covenant made in the temple means nothing. And God is not silent. God says: “You have not obeyed me by proclaiming freedom to your fellow countrymen. So, I proclaim ‘freedom’ to you:”

You cannot bargain for God’s blessing while resisting His authority.

What we have seen

The Bible doesn’t contradict itself; it completes itself.
Fear of man will always produce compromise.
Public vows are serious business to God.

What is Jeremiah 34 about in plain terms?

Jeremiah 34 is about a public promise that didn’t last. Under Babylon’s siege, Judah covenanted in the temple to free Hebrew servants, but when the siege briefly lifted they took them back and broke the covenant. God called their reversal a profaning of His name and answered it with judgment rather than blessing. The chapter exposes repentance that is spoken under pressure but resisted in the heart.

Why did the people agree to free their Hebrew servants in Jeremiah 34?

The decision to free Hebrew servants was rooted in the Law of Moses and was “right” in God’s sight. The promise was made publicly as a covenant act in the temple, using God’s name. The motive was also mixed with bargaining—trying to “bribe” God into helping them rather than submitting to His word. The chapter shows that doing a right act without surrender can still be temporary obedience.

Does the Bible contradict itself about Zedekiah seeing Babylon?

The Bible doesn’t contradict itself; it completes itself. Jeremiah said Zedekiah would see the king of Babylon face-to-face, while Ezekiel said he would not see Babylon (Ezekiel 12:12–13). The explanation given is that Zedekiah saw Nebuchadnezzar, then had his eyes put out, so he went to Babylon but never saw it. The apparent conflict becomes a fuller picture when the passages are held together.

What does Jeremiah 34 say about fear of people and compromise?

Fear of man will always produce compromise. Zedekiah was given another opportunity to repent, yet he was afraid of people and delayed what God was calling him to do. When someone is more afraid of what people will say than what God has said, that person will rationalise almost anything. Delayed obedience is still disobedience.

Why does Jeremiah 34 treat vows and public promises so seriously?

Public vows are serious business to God. Judah made its covenant in God’s house and used God’s name, so their promise was not a private feeling but a public, covenantal act. God said their covenant was “right in my sight,” but He also judged the reversal as profaning His name. God wants promises lived out, not just piously made.

What does it mean to “cut a covenant” and walk between the pieces in Jeremiah 34?

A covenant was sealed by cutting an animal in two and walking between the pieces as a self-invoked curse. The leaders and people were, in effect, agreeing to suffer what the calf suffered if they broke the agreement. When they reversed their decision and re-enslaved the servants, God treated it as knowingly embracing the consequences they had acknowledged. The action showed they understood the terms, then treated them as nothing when the pressure lifted.

Why did God announce a “freedom” to sword, pestilence, and famine?

God answered their refusal to proclaim freedom to their fellow countrymen by proclaiming a terrifying kind of freedom to them. The point was that they wanted freedom on their own terms while resisting God’s authority, and God let consequences follow that choice. The chapter presents judgment as the outcome of covenant-breaking, not a religious mood swing. Temporary obedience followed by reversal does not secure God’s blessing.

How does Jeremiah 34 connect to forgiveness and bitterness now?

Jeremiah 34 exposes the pattern of releasing someone for a while and then putting them back in bondage. The teaching applied that pattern to forgiveness: people can say they forgive, then later re-enslave others with reminders, coldness, distance, and silent punishment. The way out of the prison of bitterness and judgment is to die to self—die to pride, die to being right, and die to keeping score. Resurrection life only comes after crucifixion to self.

How does Jeremiah 34 point to Jesus?

Jesus bore the curse of the broken covenant. The contrast made was that in Genesis 15 only God passed between the pieces, while in Jeremiah 34 the people passed and failed. On the Cross, Jesus kept the covenant people broke and bore the curse alone. That frames forgiveness and obedience as responses to a redemption that was not fake or performative but purchased with blood.

What should someone do if they realise their repentance hasn’t lasted?

God is not mocked, and He sees through performative repentance. The chapter’s mirror is meant to bring repentance from the heart, not just promises made in a hard season and quietly taken back when pressure lifts. The concrete call given was to release one person fully before God—no reminders, no mental re-enslaving, no private prosecution—and to repent specifically of any vow made to God and broken. The God who judges hypocrisy also restores repentant hearts.

Where else scripture speaks

Every passage Lee reaches for. The ones he teaches from open here; the rest link out.

Leviticus 25:39Exodus 22:3–4

Passages picked up elsewhere in the series:

Ezekiel 12:12–13 — God Keeps the Score

Take this with you

So let’s bring this home. Where have you and I offered God “repentance” with our mouths, but kept chains in our hands?