“that each man should free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female, and no one should hold his fellow Jew in bondage.”
Jeremiah 34:9 (BSB)
Context Reading
7as the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and the remaining cities of Judah — against Lachish and Azekah. For these were the only fortified cities remaining in Judah. 8After King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim liberty, the word came to Jeremiah from the LORD 9that each man should free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female, and no one should hold his fellow Jew in bondage. 10So all the officials and all the people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their menservants and maidservants and no longer hold them in bondage. They obeyed and released them, 11but later they changed their minds and took back the menservants and maidservants they had freed, and they forced them to become slaves again.