Jeremiah 34-35

“But afterward they turned around and took back the male and female slaves they had set free and brought them into subjection as slaves” (34:11). God had chastised the Israelites for enslaving impoverished fellow Jews, and they had released their slaves, but then they turned around and re-enslaved them. Since they wouldn’t protect the freedom of their neighbors, God gave them the “freedom” of being on their own. “You have not obeyed me by proclaiming liberty ... behold, I proclaim to you liberty to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine” (34:17).

God, who has brought us all “out of the house of slavery,” calls us to treat others with the same mercy and compassion (34:13).