Abstract
Jeremiah 34.8-14 reports how the citizens of Jerusalem joined Zedekiah in covenant of mass manumission, only to re-enslave those they had just liberated. The texts of both the covenant and Jeremiah's consequent rebuke contain a number of exegetical difficulties, including awkward syntax, and an inaccurate citation of the law of manu mission in Deut. 15.12. This essay seeks to engage these difficulties as products of inner-biblical exegesis, specifically, as signs of ongoing deliberate scribal reworking that, among other things, drew upon Lev. 25.39, 46b and Neh. 5.1-13. This approach has the benefit of illuminating a variety of scribal techniques, while demonstrating the range of scribal concerns, from textual to social.
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