6. Then I gave this message to King Zedekiah in Jerusalem
7. while the army of the king of Babylonia was attacking the city. The army was also attacking Lachish and Azekah, the only other fortified cities left in Judah.
8. King Zedekiah and the people of Jerusalem had made an agreement to set free
9. their Hebrew slaves, both male and female, so that no one would have a fellow-Israelite as a slave.
10. All the people and their leaders agreed to free their slaves and never to enslave them again. They did set them free,
11. but later they changed their minds, took them back, and forced them to become slaves again.
12. Then the Lord,
13. the God of Israel, told me to say to the people: “I made a covenant with your ancestors when I rescued them from Egypt and set them free from slavery. I told them that
14. every seven years they were to set free any Hebrew slave who had served them for six years. But your ancestors would not pay any attention to me or listen to what I said.