Jeremiah 27
27
The Lord Made Nebuchadnezzar Ruler
1A message from the Lord came to Jeremiah. It came during the fourth year that Zedekiah#27:1 the fourth year … Zedekiah The standard Hebrew text has “At the beginning of the kingship of Jehoiakim.” This is probably a scribal error. Verse 3 talks about Zedekiah, and 28:1 says “that same year” was the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign (594–593 B.C.). son of Josiah was king of Judah. 2This is what the Lord said to me: “Jeremiah, make a yoke out of straps and poles. Put that yoke on the back of your neck. 3Then send a message to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon. Send the message with the messengers of these kings who have come to Jerusalem to see King Zedekiah of Judah. 4Tell them to give the message to their masters. Tell them that this is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: ‘Tell your masters that 5I made the earth and all the people on it. I made all the animals on the earth. I did this with my great power and my strong arm. I can give the earth to anyone I want. 6Now I have given all your countries to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He is my servant. I will make even the wild animals obey him. 7All nations will serve Nebuchadnezzar and his son and his grandson. Then the time will come for Babylon to be defeated. Many nations and great kings will make Babylon their servant.
8“‘But if some nations or kingdoms refuse to serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and refuse to be put under his control, I will punish them, says the Lord. I will destroy them with war, hunger, and disease. I will use Nebuchadnezzar to destroy any nation that fights against him. 9So don’t listen to your prophets. Don’t listen to those who use magic to tell what will happen in the future. Don’t listen to those who say they can interpret dreams. Don’t listen to those who talk to the dead or to people who practice magic. All of them tell you, “You will not be slaves to the king of Babylon.” 10But they are telling you lies. They will only cause you to be taken far from your homeland. I will force you to leave your homes, and you will die in another land.
11“‘But the nations that put their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and obey him will live. I will let them stay in their own country and serve the king of Babylon,’ says the Lord. ‘The people from those nations will live in their own land and farm it.’”
12I gave the same message to King Zedekiah of Judah. I said, “Zedekiah, you must place your neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and obey him. If you serve the king of Babylon and his people, you will live. 13If you don’t agree to serve the king of Babylon, you and your people will die from war, hunger, and disease. This is what the Lord said would happen. 14But the false prophets are saying, ‘You will never be slaves to the king of Babylon.’
“Don’t listen to those prophets, because they are telling you lies. 15‘I didn’t send them,’ says the Lord. ‘They are telling lies and saying that the message is from me. So I will send you people of Judah away. You will die, and the prophets who spoke to you will die also.’”
16Then I told the priests and all the people that this is what the Lord says: “Those false prophets are saying, ‘The Babylonians took many things from the Lord’s Temple. These things will be brought back soon.’ Don’t listen to them because they are telling you lies. 17Don’t listen to those prophets. Serve the king of Babylon. Accept your punishment, and you will live. There is no reason for you to cause this city of Jerusalem to be destroyed. 18If they are prophets and their message is from the Lord, let them pray. Let them pray to the Lord about the things that are still in the Lord’s Temple, in the king’s palace, and in Jerusalem. Let them pray that all those things will not be taken away to Babylon.
19“This is what the Lord All-Powerful says about the things that are still left in Jerusalem. In the Temple, there are the pillars, the bronze sea, the moveable stands, and other things.#27:19 pillars … other things For a description of these things, see 1 Kings 7:23-37. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon left those things in Jerusalem. 20He didn’t take them away when he took Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah away as a prisoner. Nebuchadnezzar also took other important people away from Judah and Jerusalem. 21This is what the Lord All-Powerful, the God of the people of Israel, says about the things still left in the Lord’s Temple and in the king’s palace and in Jerusalem: 22‘All those things will also be taken to Babylon. They will be brought to Babylon until the day comes when I go to get them,’ says the Lord. ‘Then I will bring those things back. I will put them back in this place.’”
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
Jeremiah 27
27
The Lesson from the Yoke-bars
1 #
2 Kgs 24.18-20; 2 Chr 36.11-13. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoi´akim the son of Josi´ah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2Thus saith the Lord to me; Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck, 3and send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedeki´ah king of Judah; 4and command them to say unto their masters, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say unto your masters; 5I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. 6And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnez´zar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. 7And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him.
8And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnez´zar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. 9Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: 10for they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish. 11But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the Lord; and they shall till it, and dwell therein.
12I spake also to Zedeki´ah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. 13Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? 14Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you. 15For I have not sent them, saith the Lord, yet they prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto you.
16Also I spake to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Hearken not to the words of your prophets that prophesy unto you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the Lord's house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you. 17Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: wherefore should this city be laid waste? 18But if they be prophets, and if the word of the Lord be with them, let them now make intercession to the Lord of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon. 19For thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city, 20which Nebuchadnez´zar king of Babylon took not, when he carried away captive Jeconi´ah the son of Jehoi´akim king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; 21yea, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem; 22They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, saith the Lord; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.