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Slaves Are Mistreated

The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. This was after King Zedekiah had ·made [L cut] an ·agreement [covenant; treaty] with all the people in Jerusalem to ·free all the Hebrew slaves [L proclaim liberty/emancipation; Ex. 21:1–11; Lev. 25:39–46; Deut. 15:12–18]. Everyone was supposed to free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female. No one was to keep a fellow ·Jew [L Judean] as a slave. 10 All the officers and all the people ·accepted [obeyed] this agreement; they agreed to free their male and female slaves and no longer keep them as slaves. So all the slaves were set free. 11 But after that, they [C the people who owned slaves] ·changed their minds [L turned back]. So they took back the people they had set free and made them slaves again.

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The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah had (A)made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem, to (B)proclaim [a]release to them: that each person was to set his male servant free and each his female servant, a (C)Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, so that (D)no one would keep them, his Jewish brother or sister, in bondage. 10 And all the (E)officials and all the people obeyed who had entered into the covenant that each person was to set his male servant free and each his female servant, so that no one would keep them in bondage any longer; they obeyed, and set them free. 11 But afterward they turned around and took back the male servants and the female servants whom they had set free, and brought them into subjection as male servants and as female servants.

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 34:8 Or liberty