[This is] the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after King Zedekiah made a covenant with all the people who were in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom to them,

so each man would free his male and female Hebrew slaves and no one enslave his Judean brother.

"These are the ordinances that you must set before them:

If he arrives alone, he is to leave alone; if he arrives with a wife, his wife is to leave with him.

"Sow your land for six years and gather its produce.

But during the seventh year you are to let it rest and leave it uncultivated, so that the poor among your people may eat [from it] and the wild animals may consume what they leave. Do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.

"If your fellow Hebrew, a man or woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, you must set him free in the seventh year.

But Solomon did not consign the Israelites to slavery; they were soldiers, his servants, his commanders, his captains, and commanders of his chariots and his cavalry.

Now you plan to reduce the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, to slavery. Are you not also guilty before the LORD your God?

Isn't the fast I choose: To break the chains of wickedness, to untie the ropes of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and to tear off every yoke?

The LORD says: I will not relent from punishing Israel for three crimes, even four, because they sell a righteous person for silver and a needy person for a pair of sandals.

We can buy the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and even sell the wheat husks!"

Still, there was no one like Ahab, who devoted himself to do what was evil in the LORD's sight, because his wife Jezebel incited him.

This is what the LORD says: Where is your mother's divorce certificate that I used to send her away? Or who were My creditors that I sold you to? Look, you were sold for your iniquities, and your mother was put away because of your transgressions.

For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am made out of flesh, sold into sin's power.

And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good.

Since the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent all My servants the prophets to you time and time again.

However, they wouldn't listen to Me or pay attention but became obstinate;they did more evil than their ancestors.

Yet they would not obey or pay attention; each one followed the stubbornness of his evil heart. So I brought on them all the curses of this covenant, because they had not done what I commanded [them] to do."

They have returned to the sins of their ancestors who refused to obey My words and have followed other gods to worship them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah broke My covenant I made with their ancestors.

From their youth, the Israelites and Judeans have done nothing but what is evil in My sight! They have done nothing but provoke Me to anger by the work of their hands"-- [this is] the LORD's declaration--

But the LORD told him, "Listen to the people and everything they say to you. They have rejected you; they have rejected Me as their king.

They are doing the same thing to you that they have done to Me, since the day I brought them out of Egypt until this day, abandoning Me and worshiping other gods.

Still, the LORD warned Israel and Judah through every prophet and every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways and keep My commandments and statutes according to all the law I commanded your ancestors and sent to you through My servants the prophets."

But they would not listen. Instead, they became obstinate like their ancestors who did not believe the LORD their God.

But they kept ridiculing God's messengers, despising His words, and scoffing at His prophets, until the LORD's wrath was so stirred up against His people that there was no remedy.

You were patient with them for many years, and Your Spirit warned them through Your prophets, but they would not listen. Therefore, You handed them over to the surrounding peoples.

"Will you pass judgment against them, will you pass judgment, son of man? Explain to them the abominations of their fathers.

"But they rebelled against Me and were unwilling to listen to Me. None of them threw away the detestable things that were before their eyes, and they did not forsake the idols of Egypt. So I considered pouring out My wrath on them, exhausting My anger against them within the land of Egypt.

But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they closed their ears so they could not hear.

They made their hearts like a rock so as not to obey the law or the words that the LORD of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of Hosts.