8. Jeremiah received the Lord’s word after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim liberty for their slaves:
9. everyone was to free their male and female Hebrew slaves and no longer hold a Judean brother or sister in bondage.
10. So all the officials and people who entered into this covenant agreed to free their male and female slaves and no longer hold them in bondage; they obeyed the king’s command and let them go.
11. But afterward they broke their promise, took back the men and women they had freed, and enslaved them again.
12. Then the Lord’s word came to Jeremiah: