The People and Their Slaves

⁸ This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom^(A) to them, ⁹ so each man would free his male and female Hebrew slaves and no one would enslave his Judean brother.^{(B) 10} All the officials and people who entered into covenant to free their male and female slaves—in order not to enslave them any longer—obeyed and freed them. ¹¹ Afterward, however, they changed their minds and took back their male and female slaves they had freed and forced them to become slaves again.