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Jeremiah 27: What the Passage Says

87 claims across 22 verses, in the order the chapter makes them.

Not a sermon outline. What Jeremiah 27 says, and what its hard words meant. The reading of it is yours.

The Chapter in a Sentence

The LORD tells Jeremiah to make a yoke, wear it, and send word by the envoys visiting Jerusalem to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon. The message is that God has handed these lands over to Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon; any nation that submits and serves him will stay on its own land, and any nation that refuses will be destroyed by sword, famine, and plague. Jeremiah repeats the same instruction to King Zedekiah, and then to the priests and people, warning them not to believe prophets who promise the temple objects will soon come back from Babylon. He says instead that the objects still remaining will also be taken to Babylon and will stay there until the LORD attends to them and brings them back.

Claim by Claim

  1. 27:1
    • This word came to Jeremiah from the LORD.
    • The word came at the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah.
    • Jehoiakim was the son of Josiah.
  2. 27:2
    • The LORD said this to Jeremiah.
    • The LORD commanded Jeremiah to make himself straps and yoke-bars.
    • The LORD commanded Jeremiah to put them on his own neck.
  3. 27:3
    • The LORD commanded Jeremiah to send them to the king of Edom.
    • The LORD commanded Jeremiah to send them to the king of Moab.
    • The LORD commanded Jeremiah to send them to the king of the Ammonites.
    • The LORD commanded Jeremiah to send them to the king of Tyre.
    • The LORD commanded Jeremiah to send them to the king of Sidon.
    • They were to be sent by the hand of the messengers who had come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.
  4. 27:4
    • The LORD commanded Jeremiah to charge the messengers to speak to their masters.
    • The message was that the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says the following.
    • The messengers were told to say this to their masters.
  5. 27:5
    • The LORD says he made the earth.
    • The LORD says he made the man and the beast that are on the face of the earth.
    • The LORD says he made these by his great power and by his outstretched arm.
    • The LORD says he gives the earth to whomever seems right in his eyes.
  6. 27:6
    • The LORD says he has now given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
    • The LORD calls Nebuchadnezzar his servant.
    • The LORD says he has also given the beasts of the field to Nebuchadnezzar to serve him.
  7. 27:7
    • All nations will serve Nebuchadnezzar.
    • All nations will serve his son.
    • All nations will serve his son's son.
    • This service lasts until the time of his own land comes.
    • Then many nations and great kings will make him serve them.
  8. 27:8
    • Any nation and kingdom that will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon will be punished by the LORD.
    • Any nation that will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon will be punished by the LORD.
    • The LORD will punish that nation with the sword.
    • The LORD will punish that nation with famine.
    • The LORD will punish that nation with pestilence.
    • This is the declaration of the LORD.
    • The LORD will punish that nation until he has consumed it by Nebuchadnezzar's hand.
  9. 27:9
    • The LORD tells them not to listen to their prophets.
    • The LORD tells them not to listen to their diviners.
    • The LORD tells them not to listen to their dreams or dreamers.
    • The LORD tells them not to listen to their soothsayers.
    • The LORD tells them not to listen to their sorcerers.
    • Those figures tell them they shall not serve the king of Babylon.
  10. 27:10
    • Those figures prophesy a lie to them.
    • The result of their prophecy is to remove them far from their land.
    • The LORD says he will drive them out.
    • The LORD says they will perish.
  11. 27:11
    • The nation that brings its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him will be left by the LORD on its own land.
    • This is the declaration of the LORD.
    • That nation will till its land.
    • That nation will dwell in its land.
  12. 27:12
    • Jeremiah spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words.
    • Jeremiah told Zedekiah to bring their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon.
    • Jeremiah told Zedekiah to serve the king of Babylon and his people.
    • Jeremiah told Zedekiah to live.
  13. 27:13
    • Jeremiah asked why Zedekiah and his people should die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence.
    • The LORD has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon.
  14. 27:14
    • Jeremiah told them not to listen to the words of the prophets.
    • Those prophets tell them they shall not serve the king of Babylon.
    • Those prophets prophesy a lie to them.
  15. 27:15
    • The LORD says he has not sent those prophets.
    • This is the declaration of the LORD.
    • Those prophets prophesy a lie in the LORD's name.
    • The result is that the LORD will drive them out.
    • The result is that they will perish.
    • Both the people and the prophets who prophesy to them will perish.
  16. 27:16
    • Jeremiah spoke to the priests and to all this people.
    • Jeremiah said the LORD says the following.
    • Jeremiah told them not to listen to the words of their prophets.
    • Those prophets say the vessels of the LORD's house will shortly be brought back from Babylon.
    • Those prophets prophesy a lie to them.
  17. 27:17
    • Jeremiah told them not to listen to those prophets.
    • Jeremiah told them to serve the king of Babylon.
    • Jeremiah told them to live.
    • Jeremiah asked why this city should become a ruin.
  18. 27:18
    • If they are prophets and if the word of the LORD is with them, they should make intercession to the LORD of hosts.
    • The intercession is that the vessels left in the house of the LORD, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem not go to Babylon.
  19. 27:19
    • The LORD of hosts speaks concerning the pillars.
    • The LORD of hosts speaks concerning the sea.
    • The LORD of hosts speaks concerning the bases.
    • The LORD of hosts speaks concerning the rest of the vessels that remain in this city.
  20. 27:20
    • Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take those vessels.
    • Nebuchadnezzar carried Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
    • Nebuchadnezzar also carried away all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem.
  21. 27:21
    • The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, speaks concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the LORD, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem.
  22. 27:22
    • Those vessels will be carried to Babylon.
    • Those vessels will remain in Babylon until the day the LORD visits them.
    • This is the declaration of the LORD.
    • The LORD will then bring them up.
    • The LORD will restore them to this place.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

27:1
The Hebrew text as it stands says "Jehoiakim," but everything that follows is addressed to Zedekiah, who reigned about eleven years later (verses 3 and 12). Some Hebrew manuscripts, the ancient Syriac version, and verse 1's parallel in chapter 28 read "Zedekiah"; the oldest Greek version omits the verse entirely. Josiah was king of Judah until 609 BC; Jehoiakim and Zedekiah were both his sons and both ruled after him. "The beginning of the reign" normally means the first year or so after a king took the throne.
27:2
A yoke was a wooden bar fastened across the necks of a pair of oxen with leather straps, so a plowman could steer them. It was the standard image for being under someone else's control. Prophets sometimes acted out their message in public rather than only speaking it, and the acted sign was understood as part of the message.
27:3
Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon were small neighboring kingdoms: Edom and Moab and Ammon east and south-east of Judah, Tyre and Sidon the Phoenician port cities on the coast to the north. Foreign envoys gathering in Jerusalem at one time normally meant negotiations were under way, here, apparently, talks about a joint revolt against Babylon.
27:4
"The LORD of Armies" translates a Hebrew title older versions render "the LORD of hosts." "Hosts" meant massed ranks, armies, and in some uses the stars and the heavenly court. Where "LORD" is printed in capitals it stands for the personal name of Israel's God, which the Hebrew text writes but Jewish readers did not pronounce aloud.
27:5
"Outstretched arm" was a set phrase for force actually applied, a raised, striking arm. It was most often used of God bringing Israel out of Egypt, so the words carried that association for the first hearers.
27:6
"My servant" here is a term of office, not of affection or loyalty: it marks Nebuchadnezzar as the one being used to do the work, the way a king's official would be called his servant. Nebuchadnezzar II ruled Babylon from 605 to 562 BC and was the dominant power in the region.
27:7
Rulers were expected to be succeeded by their own line, so "his son and his grandson" is a way of saying the empire will last a full further generation or two, not an exact count. The last phrase reverses the picture: the older wording "serve themselves of him" means make a servant of him, the conqueror ends up conquered.
27:8
War, hunger and disease form a fixed set of three that runs through Jeremiah, the standard sequence of a siege, in which an army surrounds a city, food inside runs out, and sickness spreads among the trapped population.
27:9
These are five recognized professions, not insults. Diviners read signs (the livers of sacrificed animals, arrows, omens) to predict events; dream readers interpreted dreams; mediums consulted the dead; sorcerers used spells and rituals. Every kingdom in the region employed such specialists, and kings consulted them before deciding on war.
27:11
The King James says they shall "till" the land. To till is to break up the soil for planting, the work a plow does.
27:12
Zedekiah was placed on Judah's throne by Nebuchadnezzar in 597 BC after the previous king was deported. He ruled as a vassal, meaning he kept his crown on condition of paying tribute and staying loyal to Babylon.
27:16
"The objects" are the temple's equipment, bowls, shovels, snuffers, lamps, cups, much of it gold and silver. Nebuchadnezzar had stripped part of it in 597 BC. The rival prophets were promising its quick return, which would have meant Babylonian power was about to collapse.
27:18
To "beg" or "make intercession" is to plead with God on someone else's behalf. Speaking to God for the people was understood as part of a genuine prophet's job, so Jeremiah is proposing a test: if these men really have God's ear, let them use it.
27:19
These are the largest fixtures of Solomon's temple, described in 1 Kings 7. The two bronze pillars, named Jachin and Boaz, stood at the entrance and were about twenty-seven feet high. The Sea was a huge bronze basin holding several thousand gallons of water, resting on twelve bronze bulls. The wheeled stands were bronze carts that carried smaller basins. Being too big to carry off whole, they had so far been left; Babylonian troops later broke them up for the metal.
27:20
Jeconiah, also called Jehoiachin, was king for three months before surrendering Jerusalem in 597 BC. He was taken to Babylon with the court, the craftsmen and the leading families, the first of the deportations, and the reason Zedekiah was on the throne at all.
27:22
"The day I come for them" translates a Hebrew verb meaning to attend to, take notice of, or deal with, used both for punishing and for coming to someone's aid. The wording leaves it open which is meant, though the next line says what the outcome will be.

Read Jeremiah 27