Jeremiah 34:8–16

⁸The 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, ⁹to 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; ¹⁰and 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; ¹¹and 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. ¹²And 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, ¹⁴At 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. ¹⁶And—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.