The Word that came unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty to them;

that each man should let his male slave, and each man his female slave, if they were a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, to go free; that no one should keep a Jewish brother enslaved.

Now these are the judgments which you shall set before them:

If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he was the husband of a wife, then his wife shall go out with him.

Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce,

but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the needy of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your olive grove.

If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.

But of the children of Israel Solomon made no slaves, because they were men of war and his servants: his officers, his captains, commanders of his chariots, and his horsemen.

And now you propose to subject the children of Judah and Jerusalem to be your male and female slaves; but do you not also have guilt of your own before Jehovah your God?

Is not this the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?

Thus says Jehovah: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn back from punishing it, for they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals.

in order to buy the poor with silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals, and sell the refuse of the wheat?

Surely there had not been one like Ahab who had sold himself to do wickedness in the eyes of Jehovah, which his wife Jezebel had instigated.

Thus says Jehovah, Where is your mother's certificate of divorce, whom I have put away? Or to which of My creditors have I sold you? Behold, you have been sold for your iniquities, and your mother has been put away for your sins.

For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.

If, then, I do what I do not wish to do, I agree with the Law that it is good.

Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.

Yet they did not listen to Me, nor extend their ear, but hardened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.

Yet they did not obey nor extend their ear, but walked each one in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did not do them.

They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear My Words. And they went after other gods, to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken My covenant which I made with their fathers.

For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done only evil before Me from their youth. For the children of Israel have only provoked Me to anger with the work of their hands, says Jehovah.

And Jehovah said to Samuel, Consent to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, for Me to not reign over them.

According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day, with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods, so they are doing to you also.

Yet Jehovah testified against Israel and against Judah, by the hand of all of His prophets and every seer, saying, Turn away from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the Law which I have commanded your fathers, and which I have sent to you by the hand of My servants the prophets.

Nevertheless they would not hear, but stiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who had not believed in Jehovah their God.

But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, to make the wrath of Jehovah swell up against His people, till there was no healing.

Yet for many years You had patience with them, and testified against them by Your Spirit by the hand of Your prophets. Yet they would not listen; therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands.

Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? Then cause them to know the abominations of their fathers.

But they rebelled against Me and would not obey Me. They did not, each man, cast away the abominations which were before their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said, I will pour out My fury upon them and fulfill My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

But they refused to heed, and gave a stubborn shoulder, and they made their ears heavy that they might not hear.

And they made their heart adamant so as not to hear the Law and the Words which Jehovah of Hosts has sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. And great wrath came from Jehovah of Hosts.