Jeremiah 34:10,11 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Now when all the princes, &c., heard This verse is better translated by Blaney and others thus, And all the princes hearkened, or, consented, and all the people who entered into covenant to let every one his bondman, and every one his bond-woman go free, and not to exact service of them any more, they hearkened, I say, and let them go. That is, they conformed to the obligations of the covenant, which they had entered into at the instigation of their prince. But afterward they turned, and brought them into subjection, &c. Namely, upon the advance of the Egyptian army, which caused Nebuchadnezzar to raise the siege of Jerusalem. When they thought themselves safe from their enemies, as if they had also got out of God's hand, they repented of their repentance, and returned to their old oppressions. Now this was not only a contempt of the divine law, as if it were of no force at all, but they might either keep it or break it as they thought fit; but it was a contempt of the covenant which they had, in a very solemn manner, (see Jeremiah 34:18-20,) made with him, and of that wrath which they had imprecated upon themselves in case they should break that covenant. It was jesting with God Almighty, as if he could be imposed on by fallacious promises, which, when they had gained their point, they would think themselves no longer obliged by. It was lying to God with their mouths, and flattering him with their tongues. It was likewise a contempt of the judgments of God, and setting them at defiance; as if when once the course of them was stopped a little, and interrupted, they would never proceed again, nor be revived: whereas, reprieves are so far from being pardons, that if they be abused thus, and sinners take encouragement from them to return to sin, they are but preparatives for heavier strokes of divine vengeance.