The passage in Jeremiah 34:1–7 began with a description of the powerful forces that were bearing down on Jerusalem (Jeremiah 34:1) and it ends with a similar description of the hopeless situation the city faced. The Babylonian forces are on Jerusalem’s doorstep, and all the surrounding cities have fallen. The only two still standing are Lachish and Azekah. They had been built to protect Jerusalem from attack from the west and the south-west, but soon they too would fall1.
7 when the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, Lachish and Azekah, for these were the only fortified cities of Judah that remained.