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The Covenant Calf Cut in Two
During the siege the people covenant to release Hebrew servants, obey briefly, and then force the freed people back into bondage. Jeremiah answers their revoked liberty with a terrible wordplay: because they would not proclaim liberty to one another, God will proclaim “liberty” to sword, pestilence, and famine. The covenant-cutting ceremony itself becomes evidence against the oath-breakers.
Genesis 15 depicts divided covenant animals with the divine manifestation passing between the pieces. Jeremiah 34 later describes covenant makers cutting a calf in two and passing between its parts, followed by judgment when they break that covenant.
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