Jeremiah 27-28
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
V. Controversies with the False Prophets[a]
Chapter 27
Serve Babylon or Perish. 1 In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah,[b] son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: 2 The Lord said to me: Make for yourself thongs and yoke bars and put them on your shoulders. 3 Send them to the kings of Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, Tyre, and Sidon, through the ambassadors who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah, king of Judah,[c] 4 and command them to tell their lords: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Thus shall you say to your lords: 5 It was I who made the earth, human being and beast on the face of the earth, by my great power, with my outstretched arm; and I can give them to whomever I think fit.(A) 6 Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, my servant; even the wild animals I have given him to serve him.(B) 7 All nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson, until the time comes for him and his land; then many nations and great kings will enslave him.(C) 8 Meanwhile, the nation or the kingdom that will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, or bend its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with sword, famine, and pestilence—oracle of the Lord—until I finish them by his hand.(D)
9 You, however, must not listen to your prophets,[d] to your diviners and dreamers, to your soothsayers and sorcerers, who say to you, “Do not serve the king of Babylon.”(E) 10 For they prophesy lies to you, so as to drive you far from your land, making me banish you so that you perish.(F) 11 The people that bends the neck to the yoke of the king of Babylon to serve him, I will leave in peace on its own land—oracle of the Lord—to cultivate it and dwell on it.(G)
12 To Zedekiah, king of Judah, I spoke the same words: Bend your necks to the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, so that you may live.(H) 13 Why should you and your people die by sword, famine, and pestilence, in accordance with the word the Lord has spoken to the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?(I) 14 Do not listen to the words of the prophets who say to you, “Do not serve the king of Babylon.” They prophesy lies to you!(J) 15 I did not send them—oracle of the Lord—but they prophesy falsely in my name. As a result I must banish you, and you will perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying to you.(K)
16 (L)To the priests and to all the people I said: Thus says the Lord: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you: “The vessels of the house of the Lord will soon be brought back from Babylon,” for they prophesy lies to you. 17 Do not listen to them! Serve the king of Babylon that you may live. Why should this city become rubble? 18 If they were prophets, if the word of the Lord were with them, then they would intercede with the Lord of hosts, that the vessels remaining in the house of the Lord and in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem should not also go to Babylon. 19 For thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars, the sea, the stands, and the rest of the vessels remaining in this city, 20 which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, did not take when he exiled Jeconiah, son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem— 21 thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels remaining in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem:(M) 22 To Babylon they shall go, and there they shall remain, until the day I look for them—oracle of the Lord; then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.
Chapter 28
The Two Yokes. 1 That same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, Hananiah the prophet, son of Azzur, from Gibeon, said to me in the house of the Lord in the sight of the priests and all the people: 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3 Within two years I will restore to this place all the vessels of the house of the Lord which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took from this place and carried away to Babylon. 4 And Jeconiah, son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles of Judah who went to Babylon, I will bring back to this place—oracle of the Lord—for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.”
5 Jeremiah the prophet answered the prophet Hananiah in the sight of the priests and all the people standing in the house of the Lord, 6 and said: Amen! thus may the Lord do! May the Lord fulfill your words that you have prophesied, by bringing back the vessels of the house of the Lord and all the exiles from Babylon to this place! 7 But now, listen to the word I am about to speak in your hearing and the hearing of all the people. 8 In the past, the prophets who came before you and me prophesied war, disaster, and pestilence against many lands and mighty kingdoms. 9 But the prophet who prophesies peace is recognized as the prophet whom the Lord has truly sent only when his word comes to pass.(N)
10 Thereupon Hananiah the prophet took the yoke bar from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke it. 11 He said in the sight of all the people: “Thus says the Lord: Like this, within two years I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, from the neck of all the nations.” At that, the prophet Jeremiah went on his way.
12 After Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke bar off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 13 Go tell Hananiah this: Thus says the Lord: By breaking a wooden yoke bar, you make an iron yoke! 14 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: A yoke of iron I have placed on the necks of all these nations serving Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and they shall serve him; even the wild animals I have given him.(O) 15 And Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet: Listen to this, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you, and you have led this people to rely on deception. 16 For this, says the Lord, I am sending you from the face of the earth; this very year you shall die, because you have preached rebellion against the Lord.(P) 17 Hananiah the prophet died in that year, in the seventh month.
Footnotes
- 27:1–29:32 A special collection of Jeremiah’s prophecies dealing with false prophets. Stylistic peculiarities evident in the Hebrew suggest that these three chapters once existed as an independent work.
- 27:1 Zedekiah: The Hebrew text actually has “Jehoiakim,” but the content of the chapter indicates that Zedekiah is intended.
- 27:3 The time is the fourth year of Zedekiah, 594 B.C., the occasion of a delegation from the neighboring states, doubtless for the purpose of laying plans against Nebuchadnezzar.
- 27:9 Your prophets: seers and diviners served non-Israelite kings just as the professional prophets served the kings of Judah.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.