Jeremiah 27
27
Submit to the king of Babylon and live
1Early in the rule of Judah’s King Zedekiah,#27.1 Heb manuscripts, Syr; MT Jehoiakim Josiah’s son, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2This is what the LORD said to me: Make a yoke of straps and bars and wear it on your neck. 3Then send word#27.3 Or them (the yokes) to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon through their representatives who have come to Jerusalem to Judah’s King Zedekiah. 4Tell them to say to their masters: The LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: Say this to your masters:
5By my great power and outstretched arm, I have made the earth and the people and animals that are on it. I can give it to anyone I please. 6Now I hand over all these countries to my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I even give him the wild animals as subjects. 7All nations will serve him, his son and grandson, until the time for his land arrives; then many nations and great kings will conquer him.
8As for the nation or country that won’t serve Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar and won’t put its neck under his yoke, I will punish it with sword, famine, and disease until I have destroyed it by his hand, declares the LORD. 9As for you, don’t listen to your prophets, diviners, dreamers,#27.9 Or dreams mediums, or your sorcerers who say to you, “Don’t serve the king of Babylon.” 10They are lying to you, and their lies will lead to banishment from your land. I will drive you out, and you will perish. 11But any nation that puts its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, I will let stay in its land to till it and live on it, declares the LORD.
12I delivered the same message to Judah’s King Zedekiah: If you want to live, put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people. 13Why should you and your people die by sword, famine, and disease, as the LORD pronounced against any nation that won’t serve the king of Babylon? 14Pay no attention to the words of the prophets who encourage you not to serve the king of Babylon, for they are lying to you. 15I haven’t sent these prophets, declares the LORD; they are prophesying falsely in my name. If you listen to them, I will drive you out, and you will perish, both you and your prophets!
16Then I spoke to the priests and all this people: This is what the LORD says: Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you, “In a short while, the temple equipment will be brought back from Babylon.” They are prophesying a lie to you. 17Don’t listen to them; serve the king of Babylon and live. Otherwise, this city will be reduced to ruin. 18If they are really prophets and have the LORD’s word, let them intercede with the LORD of heavenly forces not to let the equipment left in the LORD’s temple and in the royal palace of Judah and Jerusalem be carted off to Babylon.
19This is what the LORD of heavenly forces proclaims about the pillars, the Sea, the stands, and the rest of the equipment left in this city, 20which Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar didn’t plunder when he deported Jeconiah the son of Judah’s King Jehoiakim from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the officials of Judah and Jerusalem. 21Yes, this is what the LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims about the equipment that is left in the LORD’s temple and in the royal palace in Judah, and in Jerusalem: 22They will be carted off to Babylon where they will remain until the day I come looking for them, declares the LORD; then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 27
27
Harness Yourselves Up to the Yoke
1-4Early in the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, Jeremiah received this Message from God: “Make a harness and a yoke and then harness yourself up. Send a message to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon. Send it through their ambassadors who have come to Jerusalem to see Zedekiah king of Judah. Give them this charge to take back to their masters: ‘This is a Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel. Tell your masters:
5-8“‘I’m the one who made the earth, man and woman, and all the animals in the world. I did it on my own without asking anyone’s help and I hand it out to whomever I will. Here and now I give all these lands over to my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I have made even the wild animals subject to him. All nations will be under him, then his son, and then his grandson. Then his country’s time will be up and the tables will be turned: Babylon will be the underdog servant. But until then, any nation or kingdom that won’t submit to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon must take the yoke of the king of Babylon and harness up. I’ll punish that nation with war and starvation and disease until I’ve got them where I want them.
9-11“‘So don’t for a minute listen to all your prophets and spiritualists and fortunetellers, who claim to know the future and who tell you not to give in to the king of Babylon. They’re handing you a line of lies, barefaced lies, that will end up putting you in exile far from home. I myself will drive you out of your lands, and that’ll be the end of you. But the nation that accepts the yoke of the king of Babylon and does what he says, I’ll let that nation stay right where it is, minding its own business.’”
12-15Then I gave this same message to Zedekiah king of Judah: “Harness yourself up to the yoke of the king of Babylon. Serve him and his people. Live a long life! Why choose to get killed or starve to death or get sick and die, which is what God has threatened to any nation that won’t throw its lot in with Babylon? Don’t listen to the prophets who are telling you not to submit to the king of Babylon. They’re telling you lies, preaching lies. God’s Word on this is, ‘I didn’t send those prophets, but they keep preaching lies, claiming I sent them. If you listen to them, I’ll end up driving you out of here and that will be the end of you, both you and the lying prophets.’”
16-22And finally I spoke to the priests and the people at large: “This is God’s Message: Don’t listen to the preaching of the prophets who keep telling you, ‘Trust us: The furnishings, plundered from God’s Temple, are going to be returned from Babylon any day now.’ That’s a lie. Don’t listen to them. Submit to the king of Babylon and live a long life. Why do something that will destroy this city and leave it a heap of rubble? If they are real prophets and have a Message from God, let them come to God-of-the-Angel-Armies in prayer so that the furnishings that are still left in God’s Temple, the king’s palace, and Jerusalem aren’t also lost to Babylon. That’s because God-of-the-Angel-Armies has already spoken about the Temple furnishings that remain—the pillars, the great bronze basin, the stands, and all the other bowls and chalices that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon didn’t take when he took Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim off to Babylonian exile along with all the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem. He said that the furnishings left behind in the Temple of God and in the royal palace and in Jerusalem will be taken off to Babylon and stay there until, in God’s words, ‘I take the matter up again and bring them back where they belong.’”
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.