Jeremiah 34:15

15 And you turned back {recently} and you did right in my eyes, to proclaim release each one to his neighbor, and you {made} a covenant {before me} in the house that is called {by} my name.

Jeremiah 34:15 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 34:15

And ye were now turned
Or, "today indeed ye were turned" ^F18 some little time ago, indeed, it must be owned, that ye turned from the evil ways of your fathers, for which you were to be commended, as having acted a better part than they: and had done right in my sight;
what was acceptable to the Lord, approved of by him, being agreeably to his law; and it would have been well if they had continued so doing: in proclaiming liberty every man to his neighbour;
for a manservant, or maidservant, was his neighbour, and to be treated as such, and loved as himself, especially a Hebrew one, of the same nation and religion; and not to be used as a slave, or retained for ever in bondage: and ye made a covenant before me in the house which is called by my
name;
this circumstance is mentioned as an aggravation of the breach of the covenant they had made, to dismiss their servants according to law; it was made in a very solemn manner, in the presence of God, appealing to him as a witness; it was done in the temple, a sacred place, devoted to him and his worship; which was called by his name, the temple of the Lord, and where his name was called upon, and where were the symbols of his presence.

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FOOTNOTES:

F18 (Mwyh Mta wbvtw) "jam, [vel] et quidem conversi fuistis hodie", Schmidt; "reversi quidem vos hodie", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

Jeremiah 34:15 In-Context

13 "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: 'I {made} a covenant with your ancestors on the day of my bringing them out from the land of Egypt, from [the] house of slaves, {saying},

14 "At [the] end of seven years you must let go each one his fellow countryman, the Hebrew who has been sold to you and who has served you six years, and you must let him go free from you." But your ancestors did not listen to me, and they did not incline their ears.

15 And you turned back {recently} and you did right in my eyes, to proclaim release each one to his neighbor, and you {made} a covenant {before me} in the house that is called {by} my name.

16 But you turned back and you profaned my name when you brought back each one his [male] slave and each one his female slave, whom you had let go free according to their desire, and you subdued them to be to you as [male] slaves and as female slaves.'

17 "{Therefore} thus says Yahweh, 'You have not listened to me to proclaim release each one to his fellow countryman and each one to his neighbor. Look, I [am] going to proclaim to you a release,' {declares} Yahweh, 'to the sword, to the plague, and to the famine, and I will make you a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "the day"
• [b]. Literally "cut"
• [c]. Literally "to the face of me"
• [d]. Literally "on it"