Jeremiah 27
27
Slaves of Nebuchadnezzar
1-2 #
2 K 24.18-20; 2 Ch 36.11-13. Not long after Zedekiah became king of Judah,#27.1,2 Not long after Zedekiah became king of Judah: A few manuscripts and one ancient translation; most Hebrew manuscripts “Not long after Jehoiakim became king of Judah”; most manuscripts of another ancient translation do not have these words. Jehoiakim ruled 609–598 b.c., and Zedekiah ruled 598–586 b.c. the Lord told me:
Jeremiah, make a wooden yoke#27.1,2 yoke: A wooden collar that fits around the neck of an ox, so the ox can be made to pull a plow or a cart. with leather straps, and place it on your neck. 3Then send a message#27.3 a message: Hebrew “them.” to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon. Some officials from these countries are in Jerusalem, meeting with Zedekiah. 4So have them tell their kings that I have said:
I am the All-Powerful Lord God of Israel, 5and with my power I created the earth, its people, and all animals. I decide who will rule the earth, 6-7#Ba 3.16,17. and I have chosen my servant King Nebuchadnezzar#27.6,7 Nebuchadnezzar: See the note at 21.2. of Babylonia to rule all nations, including yours. I will even let him rule the wild animals. All nations will be slaves of Nebuchadnezzar, his son, and his grandson. Then many nations will join together, and their kings will make slaves of the Babylonians.
8This yoke stands for the power of King Nebuchadnezzar, and I will destroy any nation that refuses to obey him. Nebuchadnezzar will attack, and many will die in battle or from hunger and disease. 9You might have people in your kingdom who claim they can tell the future by magic or by talking with the dead or by dreams or messages from a god. But don't pay attention if any of them tell you not to obey Nebuchadnezzar. 10If you listen to such lies, I will have you dragged far from your country and killed. 11But if you and your nation are willing to obey Nebuchadnezzar, I will let you stay in your country, and your people will continue to live and work on their farms.
12After I had spoken to the officials from the nearby kingdoms, I went to King Zedekiah and told him the same thing. Then I said:
Zedekiah, if you and the people of Judah want to stay alive, you must obey Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. 13But if you refuse, then you and your people will die from war, hunger, and disease, just as the Lord has warned. 14Your prophets have told you that you don't need to obey Nebuchadnezzar, but don't listen to their lies. 15Those prophets claim to be speaking for the Lord, but he didn't send them. They are lying! If you do what they say, he will have both you and them dragged off to another country and killed. The Lord has spoken.
16When I finished talking to the king, I told the priests and everyone else that the Lord had said:
Don't listen to the prophets when they say that very soon the Babylonians will return the things they took from my temple. Those prophets are lying! 17If you choose to obey the king of Babylonia, you will live. But if you listen to those prophets, this whole city will be nothing but a pile of rubble.
18If I really had spoken to those prophets, they would know what I am going to do. Then they would be begging me not to let everything else be taken from the temple and the king's palace and the rest of Jerusalem. 19-21After all, when Nebuchadnezzar took King Jehoiachin#27.19-21 Jehoiachin: Hebrew “Jeconiah” (see the note at 24.1). to Babylonia as a prisoner, he didn't take everything of value from Jerusalem. He left the bronze pillars, the huge bronze bowl called the Sea, and the movable bronze stands in the temple, and he left a lot of other valuable things in the palace and in the rest of Jerusalem.
But now I, the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, say that all these things 22will be taken to Babylonia, where they will remain until I decide to bring them back to Jerusalem. I, the Lord, have spoken.
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 27
27
The Yoke of Babylon
1At the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah # Some Hb mss, Syr, Arabic; other Hb mss, DSS read Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, # 2Kg 24:17; Jr 1:3; 21:1 this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: # LXX omits this v. 2“This is what the Lord said to me: Make chains and yoke bars # Jr 28:10-13 for yourself and put them on your neck. # Jr 2:20; 5:5: 30:8 3Send word to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon # Jr 25:21-22 through messengers who are coming to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem. 4Command them to go to their masters, saying: This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: This is what you must say to your masters: 5By My great strength and outstretched arm, # Dt 4:34; 5:15; 7:19; 1Kg 8:42; Ps 136:12; Jr 32:17,21; Ezk 20:33-34 I made the earth, # Is 45:12 and the people, and animals on the face of the earth. I give it to anyone I please. # Lit to whomever is upright in My eyes # Ps 115:15-16; Dn 4:17 6So now I have placed all these lands under the authority of My servant # Is 44:28; Jr 25:9 Nebuchadnezzar, # 2Kg 24:11; 25:22; 2Ch 36:6-13 king of Babylon. I have even given him the wild animals to serve him. 7All nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson until the time for his own land comes, and then many nations and great kings will enslave him. # Jr 25:12
8“As for the nation or kingdom that does not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and does not place its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish by sword, famine, and plague” — this is the Lord’s declaration — “until through him I have destroyed it. 9But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, diviners, # Dt 18:10,14; Jr 14:14; 29:8 dreamers, fortune-tellers, # Lv 19:26; Dt 18:10,14; 2Ch 33:6 or sorcerers # Ex 7:11; Dt 18:10; 2Ch 33:6 who say to you, ‘Don’t serve the king of Babylon! ’ 10for they prophesy a lie # Jr 5:31; 14:14; 20:6; 23:25-26,32; 27:14-16; 29:9,21,31 to you so that you will be removed from your land. I will banish you, and you will perish. 11But as for the nation that will put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave it in its own land, and that nation will cultivate # Lit work it and reside in it.” This is the Lord’s declaration.
Warning to Zedekiah
12I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah # Jr 28:1; 38:17 in the same way: “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, serve him and his people, and live! 13Why should you and your people die # Ezk 18:31 by the sword, famine, or plague as the Lord has threatened against any nation that does not serve the king of Babylon? 14Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are telling you, ‘You must not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they are prophesying a lie to you. # Jr 14:14 15‘I have not sent them’ — this is the Lord’s declaration — ‘and they are prophesying falsely in My name; therefore, I will banish you, and you will perish — you and the prophets who are prophesying to you.’ ”
16Then I spoke to the priests and all these people, saying, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Do not listen to the words of your prophets. They are prophesying to you, claiming, “Look, very soon now the articles of the Lord’s temple will be brought back from Babylon.” # 2Kg 24:13; 2Ch 36:7,10; Jr 28:3 They are prophesying a lie to you. 17Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon and live! Why should this city become a ruin? # Jr 7:34 18If they are indeed prophets and if the word of the Lord is with them, let them intercede with the Lord of Hosts not to let the articles that remain in the Lord’s temple, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem go to Babylon.’ 19For this is what the Lord of Hosts says about the pillars, the sea, the water carts, # 2Kg 25:13,16; Jr 52:17,20 and the rest of the articles that still remain in this city, 20those Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he deported Jeconiah # = Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon along with all the nobles of Judah # Neh 6:17; 13:17; Jr 39:6 and Jerusalem. 21Yes, this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says about the articles that remain in the temple of the Lord, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem: 22‘They will be brought to Babylon and will remain there until I attend to them again.’ # Jr 29:10; 32:5 This is the Lord’s declaration. ‘Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.’ ” # Ezr 1:7-11; 5:13-15; 7:19
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