Jeremiah 34:7-9

New Catholic Bible

⁷ while the army of the king of Babylon was attacking Jerusalem and the remaining cities of Judah that were left, Lachish and Azekah,^[a] for these were the only fortified cities of Judah that were still standing.

The Broken Promise. ⁸ This word came to Jeremiah from the Lord after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to issue a proclamation of freedom for their slaves. ⁹ Everyone who had Hebrew slaves, whether male or female, was to grant them freedom, and no one would be allowed to keep a fellow Jew in the state of slavery.