Jeremiah 34:8-22 - Zedekiah's Covenant Concerning Slaves

⁸ The Word that came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, after King Zedekiah had cut a covenant with all the people at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them, ⁹ that each man should let his male slave, and each man his female slave, if a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, to go free, that none should enslave a Jew, his brother among them. ¹⁰ And all the rulers obeyed, and all the people who had entered into the covenant allowed them to go free, each man his male slave, and each man his female slave, so that not any should enslave among them any more; and they obeyed and let them go. ¹¹ But afterward they turned and caused the slaves and slave women whom they had let go free, to return! And they subjected them for slaves and slave women.

¹² So the Word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, ¹³ So says Jehovah, the God of Israel: I cut a covenant with your fathers in the day that I brought them out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying, ¹⁴ At the end of seven years each man should let go his brother, a Hebrew, and who has been sold to him. And when he has served you six years, you shall let him go free from you. But your fathers did not listen to me, nor bow down their ears. ¹⁵ And you had turned today, and had done right in My sight to call for liberty, each man to his neighbor. And you had cut a covenant before Me in the house which is called by My name. ¹⁶ But you turned and defiled My name, and each man caused his slave, and each man caused his slave woman, whom you had set free to do as they pleased, to return. And you brought them into service to be slaves and slave women to you.

¹⁷ So Jehovah says this: You have not listened to Me to proclaim liberty each man to his brother, and each man to his neighbor! Behold, I call for freedom for you, says Jehovah, to the sword, to the plague, and to the famine. And I will cause you to be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸ And I will give the men who have sinned against My covenant, who have not done the words of the covenant which they cut before Me when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts; ¹⁹ the rulers of Judah, and the rulers of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, and the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf; ²⁰ I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life. And their dead bodies shall be for food to the birds of the heavens and to the beasts of the earth. ²¹ And I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, and his rulers, into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life, and into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, who have withdrawn from you. ²² Behold, I will command, says Jehovah, and cause them to return to this city. And they shall fight against it and capture it, and burn it with fire. And I will make the cities of Judah a desert without a soul to live in it.