Jeremiah 34:18
New International Version
Those who have violated my covenant 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.

New Living Translation
Because you have broken the terms of our covenant, I will cut you apart just as you cut apart the calf when you walked between its halves to solemnize your vows.

English Standard Version
And the men who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of the covenant that they made before me, I will make them like the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts—

Berean Standard Bible
And those who have transgressed My covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before Me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two in order to pass between its pieces.

King James Bible
And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof,

New King James Version
And I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts of it—

New American Standard Bible
I will give the people who have violated My covenant, who have not fulfilled the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts—

NASB 1995
I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not fulfilled the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts—

NASB 1977
‘And I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not fulfilled the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts—

Legacy Standard Bible
And I will give the men who have trespassed against My covenant, who have not established the words of the covenant which they cut before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts—

Amplified Bible
The men who have violated My covenant, who have not kept the terms of the solemn pledge which they made before Me when they split the [sacrificial] calf in half, and then afterwards walked between its separated pieces [sealing their pledge to Me by placing a curse on themselves should they violate the covenant—those men I will make like the calf]!

Christian Standard Bible
As for those who disobeyed my covenant, not keeping the terms of the covenant they made before me, I will treat them like the calf they cut in two in order to pass between its pieces.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
As for those who disobeyed My covenant, not keeping the terms of the covenant they made before Me, I will treat them like the calf they cut in two in order to pass between its pieces.

American Standard Version
And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, that have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before me, when they cut the calf in twain and passed between the parts thereof;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And I shall give to the men who violated against my covenant, for they did not confirm my words of the covenant, for they set up before me a calf that they cut into two, and they passed between its halves

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, who have not kept my covenant, which they made before me, the calf which they prepared to sacrifice with it,

Contemporary English Version
You asked me to be a witness when you made the agreement to set your slaves free. And as part of the ceremony you cut a calf into two parts, then walked between the parts. But you people of Jerusalem have broken that agreement as well as my agreement with Israel. So I will do to you what you did to that calf.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, and have not performed the words of the covenant which they agreed to in my presence, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the parts thereof:

English Revised Version
And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before me, when they cut the calf in twain and passed between the parts thereof;

GOD'S WORD® Translation
I will hand over the people who have rejected my promise. They have not kept the terms of the promise which they made in my presence when they cut a calf in two and passed between its pieces.

International Standard Version
I'll give over the men who transgressed my covenant, who haven't fulfilled the terms of the covenant that they made before me when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts—

JPS Tanakh 1917
And I will give the men that have transgressed My covenant, that have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in twain and passed between the parts thereof;

Literal Standard Version
And I have given the men who are transgressing My covenant, who have not established the words of the covenant that they have made before Me, by the calf, that they have cut in two, and pass through between its pieces—

Majority Standard Bible
And those who have transgressed My covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before Me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two in order to pass between its pieces.

New American Bible
Those who violated my covenant and did not observe the terms of the covenant they made in my presence—I will make them like the calf which they cut in two so they could pass between its parts—

NET Bible
I will punish those people who have violated their covenant with me. I will make them like the calf they cut in two and passed between its pieces. I will do so because they did not keep the terms of the covenant they made in my presence.

New Revised Standard Version
And those who transgressed my covenant and did not keep the terms of the covenant that they made before me, I will make like the calf when they cut it in two and passed between its parts:

New Heart English Bible
I will give the men who have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts;

Webster's Bible Translation
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 cut the calf in two, and passed between the parts of it,

World English Bible
I will give the men who have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before me when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts:

Young's Literal Translation
'And I have given the men who are transgressing My covenant, who have not established the words of the covenant that they have made before Me, by the calf, that they have cut in two, and pass through between its pieces --

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Freedom for Hebrew Slaves
17Therefore this is what the LORD says: You have not obeyed Me; you have not proclaimed freedom, each man for his brother and for his neighbor. So now I proclaim freedom for you, declares the LORD—freedom to fall by sword, by plague, and by famine! I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 18And those who have transgressed My covenant and have not fulfilled the terms of the covenant they made before Me, I will treat like the calf they cut in two in order to pass between its pieces. 19The officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf,…

Cross References
Romans 2:8
But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow wickedness, there will be wrath and anger.

Genesis 15:10
So Abram brought all these to Him, split each of them down the middle, and laid the halves opposite each other. The birds, however, he did not cut in half.

Genesis 15:17
When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch appeared and passed between the halves of the carcasses.

Deuteronomy 17:2
If a man or woman among you in one of the towns that the LORD your God gives you is found doing evil in the sight of the LORD your God by transgressing His covenant

Hosea 6:7
But they, like Adam, have transgressed the covenant; there they were unfaithful to Me.

Hosea 8:1
Put the ram's horn to your lips! An eagle looms over the house of the LORD, because the people have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law.


Treasury of Scripture

And I will give the men that have transgressed my covenant, which have not performed the words of the covenant which they had made before me, when they cut the calf in two, and passed between the parts thereof,

have transgressed.

Deuteronomy 17:2
If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant,

Joshua 7:11
Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff.

Joshua 23:16
When ye have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to them; then shall the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and ye shall perish quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you.

when.

Deuteronomy 29:12
That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the LORD thy God, and into his oath, which the LORD thy God maketh with thee this day:

Joshua 9:7
And the men of Israel said unto the Hivites, Peradventure ye dwell among us; and how shall we make a league with you?

Genesis 15:10,17,18
And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not…

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Jeremiah 34
1. Jeremiah prophesies the captivity of Zedekiah and the city.
8. The princes and the people having dismissed their bond-servants,
11. contrary to the covenant of God, re-assume them.
12. Jeremiah gives them and Zedekiah into the hands of their enemies.














(18) When they cut the calf in twain . . .--The passage is interesting, as showing the survival of one of the oldest rites of Patriarchal times. So, when Jehovah made a covenant with Abraham, the victims that had been slain were cut up and arranged opposite each other, and when the "burning lamp" passed between the pieces it was the token that Jehovah had completed the covenant, even as men complete it (Genesis 15:10-17). The implied thought thus symbolised was that the parties to the contract prayed, as in the analogous case of 1Samuel 11:7, that they might be torn limb from limb like the victims if they broke the covenant, The antiquity and wide extent of the symbolism is shown by its appearing in the ritual of Greece, as in the phrase ????? ?????? --to ratify (literally, to cut) oaths, in Homer (Iliad, ii. 124, Od. xxiv. 483, and elsewhere), and the Latin f?dus ferire. In Livy (i. 24) we have both the phrase, the act which it implied, and the prayer which accompanied it, that if the Roman people proved unfaithful to their covenant Jupiter would slay them as the priest slew the victim. "Tu illo die, Jupiter, populum Romanum sic ferito, ut ego hunc porcum hic hodie feriam, tantoque magis ferito, quanto magis potes pollesque." ("Do thou, Jupiter, on that day so smite the Roman people [if they break the covenant] as I this day smite this swine--yea, so much the more smite them as thou art mightier and more prevailing.")

Verse 18. - When they out the calf in twain, etc. This clause should be translated differently, and placed, for clearness, in a parenthesis (the calf which they cut in twain, and between the parts of which they passed). The division of the calf might, in fact, be called in Hebrew either "the covenant" or "the token of the covenant" (comp. Genesis 17:10, 11). It was a solemn assurance that he who should transgress God's Law should share the same fate as the victim. The same idea seems to have dictated the Hebrew phrase, "to cut a covenant," and the Greek and Latin equivalents (ὅρκια τέμνειν: foedus icere); comp. the parallel narrative in Genesis 15:10.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
And those who have transgressed
הָעֹֽבְרִים֙ (hā·‘ō·ḇə·rîm)
Article | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine plural
Strong's 5674: To pass over, through, or by, pass on

My covenant
בְּרִתִ֔י (bə·ri·ṯî)
Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 1285: A covenant

and have not
לֹֽא־ (lō-)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

fulfilled
הֵקִ֙ימוּ֙ (hê·qî·mū)
Verb - Hifil - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 6965: To arise, stand up, stand

the terms
דִּבְרֵ֣י (diḇ·rê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 1697: A word, a matter, thing, a cause

of the covenant
הַבְּרִ֔ית (hab·bə·rîṯ)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 1285: A covenant

they made
כָּרְת֖וּ (kā·rə·ṯū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 3772: To cut, to destroy, consume, to covenant

before Me,
לְפָנָ֑י (lə·p̄ā·nāy)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine plural construct | first person common singular
Strong's 6440: The face

I will treat
וְנָתַתִּ֣י (wə·nā·ṯat·tî)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 5414: To give, put, set

like the calf
הָעֵ֙גֶל֙ (hā·‘ê·ḡel)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5695: A, calf, one nearly grown

they cut
כָּרְת֣וּ (kā·rə·ṯū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 3772: To cut, to destroy, consume, to covenant

in two
לִשְׁנַ֔יִם (liš·na·yim)
Preposition-l | Number - md
Strong's 8147: Two (a cardinal number)

in order to pass
וַיַּעַבְר֖וּ (way·ya·‘aḇ·rū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 5674: To pass over, through, or by, pass on

between
בֵּ֥ין (bên)
Preposition
Strong's 996: An interval, space between

its pieces.
בְּתָרָֽיו׃ (bə·ṯā·rāw)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 1335: A part, piece


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OT Prophets: Jeremiah 34:18 I will give the men who have (Jer.)
Jeremiah 34:17
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