Jeremiah 34:15

34:15 Recently, however, you yourselves 1  showed a change of heart and did what is pleasing to me. You granted your fellow countrymen their freedom and you made a covenant to that effect in my presence in the house that I have claimed for my own. 2 

Jeremiah 34:17

34:17 So I, the Lord, say: “You have not really obeyed me and granted freedom to your neighbor and fellow countryman. 3  Therefore, I will grant you freedom, the freedom 4  to die in war, or by starvation or disease. I, the Lord, affirm it! 5  I will make all the kingdoms of the earth horrified at what happens to you. 6 

1 tn The presence of the independent pronoun in the Hebrew text is intended to contrast their actions with those of their ancestors.

2 sn This refers to the temple. See Jer 7:10, 11, 14, 30 and see the translator’s note on 7:10 and the study note on 10:25 for the explanation of the idiom involved here.

3 tn The Hebrew text has a compound object, the two terms of which have been synonyms in vv. 14, 15. G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, and T. G. Smothers (Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 189) make the interesting observation that these two terms (Heb “brother” and “neighbor”) emphasize the relationships that should have taken precedence over their being viewed as mere slaves.

4 sn This is, of course, a metaphorical and ironical use of the term “to grant freedom to.” It is, however, a typical statement of the concept of talionic justice which is quite often operative in God’s judgments in the OT (cf., e.g., Obad 15).

5 tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

6 sn Compare Jer 15:4; 24:9; 29:18.