Jeremiah 27:1-15

Jeremiah Uses Fetters and Yokes to Illustrate His Message of Submission

1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, {saying}--
2 thus said Yahweh to me--"Make for yourself fetters and yokes and put them on your neck,
3 and 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 Tyre, and to the king of Sidon in [the] hand of [the] envoys who have come [to] Jerusalem, to Zedekiah, the king of Judah.
4 And you must command them for their masters, {saying}, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel, this you shall say to your masters:
5 "I have made the earth with humankind and animals that [are] on the face of the earth by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and I give it to whomever is right in my eyes.
6 And now I myself have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and also the animals of the field I have given to him to serve him.
7 And all the nations will serve him, and his son, and {his grandson}, until the coming of the time of {his own} land. Then many nations and great kings will let him work.
8 "But it will be [that] the nation or kingdom that will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put his neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword, and with the famine, and with the plague," {declares} Yahweh, "until I have destroyed it with my hand.
9 And you, you must not listen to your prophets, and to your diviners, and to your dreamers, and to your interpreters of signs, and to your sorcerers who are {saying}, 'You will not serve the king of Babylon.'
10 For they [are] prophesying to you a lie, so that you [will be] removed from your land, and I will drive you away, and you will perish.
11 But the nation that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and will serve him, yet will I leave it on its land," {declares} Yahweh, "and they will till it, and they will live in it." '"
12 And I spoke words like these to Zedekiah, the king of Judah, {saying}, "Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.
13 Why should you die--you and your people--by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague, as Yahweh has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?
14 And you must not listen to the words of the prophets who are speaking to you, {saying}, 'You must not serve the king of Babylon,' for they [are] prophesying a lie to you.
15 For I have not sent them," {declares} Yahweh, "but they [are] prophesying in my name {falsely}, so that I will drive them away. And you will perish--you and the prophets who are prophesying to you."

Jeremiah 27:1-15 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 27

This chapter contains a prophecy of the subjection of the king of Judah, with five neighbouring kings, to the king of Babylon; signified by bonds and yokes on the prophet's neck, which they are exhorted patiently to bear, as being most for their good; and not to give heed to false prophets, who would persuade them to the contrary. The date of the prophecy is in Jer 27:1; the order to make the yokes, and send them to the several neighbouring princes by their messengers at Jerusalem, Jer 27:2,3; what they should say to their masters from the God of Israel, who is described from his power in the creation of the earth, and the disposal of it, Jer 27:4,5; as that he had given all their lands into the hand of the king of Babylon, whom they should serve, or it would be worse for them, Jer 27:6-8; and therefore should not hearken to their prophets, who prophesied lies; if they did, it would be to their hurt; whereas, if they quietly submitted, they would dwell in their own land, Jer 27:9-11; particularly Zedekiah king of Judah is exhorted to submit; and both he, and the priests and the people, are advised not to hearken to the false prophets, Jer 27:12-15; particularly as to what they said concerning the speedy return of the vessels of the temple, which were carried away to Babylon; but might assure themselves they should remain there; and the rest also should be taken, and not returned until the end of the seventy years, Jer 27:16-22.

Footnotes 14

Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.