Jeremiah 34:11
But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids. But afterward they turned, and caused the servants and the handmaids, whom they had let go free, to return, and brought them into subjection for servants and for handmaids.
Jeremiah 34:11 belongs late in Jeremiah's work in Judah, coming in chronological order after Jeremiah 21 and before Jeremiah 37, with its chapter indicating its time. Prophecies after Jeremiah 20 are not placed in chronological order because the manuscript rolls were gathered together into one book, and that displacement makes no change in the teaching.
After proclaiming freedom, the people reversed their decision and forced the servants and handmaids they had let go free back into subjection as servants and handmaids. The release was part of an effort to carry out the law concerning the jubilee and to free those who were oppressed. The release belonged to the covenant of liberty in Jeremiah 34:8-19, in which separated sacrifice pieces marked the covenant and the parties passed between them.
By turning back, the people violated the liberty they had promised and broke faith with that covenant commitment. The chapter shows that permitting the Jews to own slaves was never pleasing to God. This re-enslavement was one of the principal charges against the Jews before their destruction by Nebuchadnezzar. This disobedience to the command to free them brought God's judgment, fulfilled when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the state and carried its people into captivity.