Jeremiah 27

At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this message came to Jeremiah from the LORD:

1In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

NoteThe 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.

2This is what the LORD said to me: Make yourself a wooden yoke with leather straps, and put it on your neck.

2Thus saith the LORD to me; Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck,

NoteA 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.

3Then send word to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon. Send it by the messengers who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.

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 Zedekiah king of Judah;

NoteEdom, 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.

4Give those messengers this order for their own kings: This is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says. Tell your masters this:

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;

Note"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.

5By my great power and my outstretched arm I made the earth, and the people and animals that are on it. I give it to whoever I think is right.

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.

Note"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.

6And now I have handed all these lands over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant. I have even given him the wild animals to serve him.

6And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.

Note"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.

7All nations will serve him, and his son, and his grandson, until the time comes for his own land to fall. Then many nations and great kings will make him serve them.

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.

NoteRulers 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.

8But if a nation or kingdom will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and will not put its neck under his yoke, I will punish that nation with war, hunger, and disease, says the LORD, until I have wiped it out by his hand.

8And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar 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.

NoteWar, 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.

9So do not listen to your prophets, your fortune-tellers, your dream readers, your mediums, or your sorcerers, who tell you, "You will not serve the king of Babylon."

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:

NoteThese 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.

10They are prophesying a lie to you. It will only carry you far away from your land, for I will drive you out and you will die.

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 any nation that puts its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, I will leave in its own land, says the LORD. Its people will farm it and live there.

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 said all these same things to Zedekiah king of Judah: Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon. Serve him and his people, and live.

12I spake also to Zedekiah 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.

NoteZedekiah 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.

13Why should you and your people die by war, hunger, and disease, as the LORD has said will happen to any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

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?

14So do not listen to the words of the prophets who tell you, "You will not serve the king of Babylon." They are prophesying a lie to you.

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.

15I did not send them, says the LORD. Yet they prophesy lies in my name. The result will be that I drive you out and you die, you and the prophets who prophesy to 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.

16I also spoke to the priests and to all these people: This is what the LORD says. Do not listen to your prophets who tell you, "Look, the objects from the LORD's house will be brought back from Babylon very soon." They are prophesying a lie to 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.

Note"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.

17Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city be left in ruins?

17Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: wherefore should this city be laid waste?

18If they really are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, let them beg the LORD of Armies that the objects still left in the LORD's house, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem, are not carried off to Babylon.

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.

NoteTo "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.

19For this is what the LORD of Armies says about the pillars, the great bronze basin called the Sea, the wheeled stands, and the rest of the objects still left in this city.

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,

NoteThese 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.

20These are the ones Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he carried Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, away from Jerusalem to Babylon as a prisoner, along with all the leading men of Judah and Jerusalem.

20Which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem;

NoteJeconiah, 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.

21Yes, this is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says about the objects that are still left in the LORD's house, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in 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 will be carried to Babylon, and they will stay there until the day I come for them, says the LORD. Then I will bring them back and return them to this place.

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.

Note"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.