--- title: "The Yoke of Nebuchadnezzar" description: "At the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, this word..." image: "" book: "Jeremiah" bookId: "JER" testament: "old" startChapter: 27 startVerse: 1 endChapter: 28 endVerse: 17 coversChapters: [27,28] aiTitle: "The Yoke of Nebuchadnezzar" aiDescription: "At the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, this word..." hasAiStory: true location: "Jerusalem" persons: ["Zedekiah","Josiah","Jeremiah","God","Nebuchadnezzar","Jeconiah","Jehoiakim","Hananiah","Azzur"] hashtags: ["authority","judgment","prophetic","truth","war"] genre: "prophecy" readingTime: 6 type: "adaptive" slug: "JER/the-yoke-of-nebuchadnezzar" canonicalId: "JER.27.1-28.17" chronologicalOrder: 1048 relatedSlugs: ["JER/jeremiah-cast-into-the-cistern","JER/the-false-prophets","JER/seventy-years-of-captivity-in-babylon","DEU/the-edomites-moabites-and-ammonites","HEB/jesus-is-above-the-angels","DEU/in-the-plains-of-moab","PSA/psalm-115-to-your-name-be-the-glory"] prevSlug: "JER/the-plot-to-kill-jeremiah" nextSlug: "JER/letter-to-the-exiles-in-babylon" --- At the beginning of the reign of [Zedekiah](/persons/zedekiah) son of [Josiah](/persons/josiah) king of Judah, this word came to [Jeremiah](/persons/jeremiah) from the [LORD](/persons/god). This is what the LORD said to me:
“Make for yourself a yoke out of leather straps and put it on your neck. Send word to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon through the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. Give them a message from the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, to relay to their masters: By My great power and outstretched arm, I made the earth and the men and beasts on the face of it, and I give it to whom I please. So now I have placed all these lands under the authority of My servant [Nebuchadnezzar](/persons/nebuchadnezzar) king of Babylon. I have even made the beasts of the field subject to him. All nations will serve him and his son and grandson, until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings will enslave him. As for the nation or kingdom that does not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and does not place its neck under his yoke, I will punish that nation by sword and famine and plague, declares the LORD, until I have destroyed it by his hand. But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums, or your sorcerers who declare, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’ For they prophesy to you a lie that will serve to remove you from your land; I will banish you and you will perish. But the nation that will put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave in its own land, to cultivate it and reside in it, declares the LORD.” And to Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke the same message: “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and live! Why should you and your people die by sword and famine and plague, as the LORD has decreed against any nation that does not serve the king of Babylon? Do not listen to the words of the prophets who say, ‘You must not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying to you a lie. For I have not sent them, declares the LORD, and yet they are prophesying falsely in My name; therefore I will banish you, and you will perish—you and the prophets who prophesy to you.” Then I said to the priests and to all this people, “This is what the LORD says: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, ‘Look, very soon now the articles from the house of the LORD will be brought back from Babylon.’ They are prophesying to you a lie. Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon and live! Why should this city become a ruin? If they are indeed prophets and the word of the LORD is with them, let them now plead with the LORD of Hosts that the articles remaining in the house of the LORD, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem, not be taken to Babylon. For this is what the LORD of Hosts says about the pillars, the sea, the bases, and the rest of the articles that remain in this city, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he carried [Jeconiah](/persons/jeconiah) son of [Jehoiakim](/persons/jehoiakim) king of Judah into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem. Yes, this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says about the articles that remain in the house of the LORD, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem: ‘They will be carried to Babylon and will remain there until the day I attend to them again,’ declares the LORD. ‘Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.’” ### [Hananiah](/persons/hananiah)’s False Prophecy In the fifth month of that same year, the fourth year, near the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah, the prophet Hananiah son of [Azzur](/persons/azzur), who was from Gibeon, said to me in the house of the LORD in the presence of the priests and all the people: “This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two years I will restore to this place all the articles of the house of the LORD that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed from here and carried to Babylon. And I will restore to this place Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, along with all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’” Then the prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the LORD. “Amen!” Jeremiah said. “May the LORD do so! May the LORD fulfill the words you have prophesied, and may He restore the articles of His house and all the exiles back to this place from Babylon. Nevertheless, listen now to this message I am speaking in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. The prophets of old who preceded you and me prophesied war, disaster, and plague against many lands and great kingdoms. As for the prophet who prophesies peace, only if the word of the prophet comes true will the prophet be recognized as one the LORD has truly sent.” Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke it. And in the presence of all the people Hananiah proclaimed, “This is what the LORD says: ‘In this way, within two years I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon off the neck of all the nations.’”
At this, Jeremiah the prophet went on his way. But shortly after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke off his neck, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: “Go and tell Hananiah that this is what the LORD says: ‘You have broken a yoke of wood, but in its place you have fashioned a yoke of iron.’ For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I have even given him control of the beasts of the field.’” Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah! The LORD did not send you, but you have persuaded this people to trust in a lie. Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. You will die this year because you have preached rebellion against the LORD.’” And in the seventh month of that very year, the prophet Hananiah died.

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