6. The prophet Jeremiah told all these things to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem.
7. He did this when the army of the king of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem and the cities of Lachish and Azekah. These were the only fortified cities of Judah that were left.
8. The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah and all the people in Jerusalem promised to free their slaves.
9. Everyone was supposed to free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female. No one was supposed to keep another Jew as a slave.
10. All the officials and all the people agreed and promised to free their male and female slaves and not to keep them as slaves anymore. So they set them free.
11. But afterwards, they changed their minds and took back the men and women they had freed and made them their slaves again.
12. The Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said,
13. “This is what the Lord God of Israel says: I put a condition on the promise I made to your ancestors when I brought them from Egypt, where they were slaves. I said,