“O my people, listen to the words of the Lord! Have I been like a desert to Israel? Have I been to them a land of darkness? Why then do my people say, ‘At last we are free from God! We don’t need him anymore!’

Freedom for Hebrew Slaves

This message came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah made a covenant with the people, proclaiming freedom for the slaves.

He had ordered all the people to free their Hebrew slaves—both men and women. No one was to keep a fellow Judean in bondage.

but later they changed their minds. They took back the men and women they had freed, forcing them to be slaves again.

I told them that every Hebrew slave must be freed after serving six years. But your ancestors paid no attention to me.

Recently you repented and did what was right, following my command. You freed your slaves and made a solemn covenant with me in the Temple that bears my name.

But now you have shrugged off your oath and defiled my name by taking back the men and women you had freed, forcing them to be slaves once again.

“Therefore, this is what the Lord says: Since you have not obeyed me by setting your countrymen free, I will set you free to be destroyed by war, disease, and famine. You will be an object of horror to all the nations of the earth.

instead, we will go to Egypt where we will be free from war, the call to arms, and hunger,’