Jeremiah 34:8-22

The Broken Covenant concerning Hebrew Servants

⁸ 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, ⁹ 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; ¹⁰ and hearken do all the heads, and all the people who have come in to the covenant to send forth each his man-servant and each his maid-servant free, so as not to lay service on them any more, yea, they hearken, and send them away; ¹¹ and they turn afterwards, and cause the men-servants and the maid-servants to return, whom they had sent forth free, and they subdue them for men-servants and for maid-servants. ¹² And there is a word of Jehovah unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying: ¹³ 'Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, I—I made a covenant with your fathers in the day of My bringing them forth from the land of Egypt, from a house of servants, saying, 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. ¹⁵ 'And ye turn back, ye to-day, and ye do that which is right in Mine eyes, to proclaim liberty each to his neighbour, and ye make a covenant before Me in the house over which My name is called. ¹⁶ And—ye turn back, and pollute My name, and ye cause each his man-servant and each his maid-servant, whom he had sent forth free, (at their pleasure,) to return, and ye subdue them to be to you for men-servants and for maid-servants. ¹⁷ 'Therefore, thus said Jehovah: Ye have not hearkened unto Me to proclaim freedom, each to his brother, and each to his neighbour; lo, I am proclaiming to you liberty—an affirmation of Jehovah—unto the sword, unto the pestilence, and unto the famine, and I have given you for a trembling to all kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸ '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— ¹⁹ heads of Judah, and heads of Jerusalem, the officers, and the priests, and all the people of the land those passing through between the pieces of the calf— ²⁰ yea, I have given them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those seeking their soul, and their carcase hath been for food to the fowl of the heavens, and to the beast of the earth. ²¹ 'And Zedekiah king of Judah, and his heads, I give into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those seeking their soul, and into the hand of the forces of the king of Babylon, that are going up from off you. ²² Lo, I am commanding—an affirmation of Jehovah—and have brought them back unto this city, and they have fought against it, and captured it, and burned it with fire, and the cities of Judah I do make a desolation—without inhabitant.'