¹⁶ But then you turned around and profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves whom you had set free according to their desire, and you forced them to become male and female slaves.”’

¹⁷ “Therefore, this is what the Lord says: ‘You haven’t obeyed me by each of you proclaiming a release for your brothers and neighbors. Now I’m going to proclaim a release for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘a release^[a] to the sword, to plague, and to famine, and I’ll make you a horrifying sight to all the kingdoms of the earth. ¹⁸ I’ll give over the men who transgressed my covenant, who haven’t fulfilled the terms of the covenant that they made before me when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts—