Jeremiah 34:17-22
Those who refuse to grant freedom according to God’s covenant law will themselves face the judgment of bondage and destruction.
17 Therefore Yahweh says: “You have not listened to me, to proclaim liberty, every man to his brother, and every man to his neighbor. Behold, I proclaim to you a liberty,” says Yahweh, “to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine. I will make you be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth.
18 I will give the men who have transgressed my covenant, who have not performed the words of the covenant which they made before me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts:
19 the princes of Judah, the princes of Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land, who passed between the parts of the calf;
20 I will even give them into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their life. Their dead bodies will be food for the birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth.
21 “I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes into the hands of their enemies, into the hands of those who seek their life and into the hands of the king of Babylon’s army, who has gone away from you.
22 Behold, I will command,” says Yahweh, “and cause them to return to this city. They will fight against it, take it, and burn it with fire. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”
Those who refuse to grant freedom according to God’s covenant law will themselves face the judgment of bondage and destruction.
To announce divine judgment upon Judah for breaking the covenant to release Hebrew slaves and for profaning the LORD’s name through deliberate covenant violation.
Jeremiah 34:17–22 concludes the episode concerning the covenant to release Hebrew slaves. After exposing Judah’s covenant violation (34:12–16), the Lord now pronounces judgment upon the leaders and the nation for profaning the covenant sworn before him.
After Judah violated the covenant to free Hebrew slaves, the Lord pronounces judgment during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem.
Broken Covenant, Re-Enslaved Servants, and the Liberty of Judgment
Judah's leaders proclaimed freedom to Hebrew servants and then re-enslaved them, so the LORD declares freedom for Judah to sword, plague, famine, and Babylonian judgment.