Therefore thus saith the LORD; Ye have not hearkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbour: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the LORD, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth.
Therefore, this is what the LORD says: You have not listened to me by setting your fellow Israelites free as I commanded. So now I am declaring a different kind of freedom for you—freedom to be destroyed by war, disease, and hunger. I will scatter you among all the nations of the world.
God is saying that since the people refused to free their Hebrew slaves as promised, He will give them a bitter 'freedom'—freedom to face destruction and exile.
📚 Historical Context
During the siege of Jerusalem, King Zedekiah and the people had made a covenant to free their Hebrew slaves according to God's law, but they broke their promise and re-enslaved them once the immediate danger seemed to pass. This was a violation of both the Mosaic law about releasing Hebrew servants and their recent sacred oath before God.
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