The Yoke of Nebuchadnezzar

27 In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah^[a] the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord. ² Thus the Lord said to me: ^(A)“Make yourself straps and ^(B)yoke-bars, and put them on your neck. ³ Send word^[b] to the king of ^(C)Edom, the king of ^(D)Moab, the king of the sons of ^(E)Ammon, the king of ^(F)Tyre, and the king of Sidon by the hand of the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. ⁴ Give them this charge for their masters: ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: This is what you shall say to your masters: ⁵ “It is I who ^(G)by my great power and my outstretched arm ^(H)have made the earth, with the men and animals that are on the earth, ^(I)and I give it to whomever it seems right to me. ^6 (J)Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, ^(K)my servant, ^(L)and I have given him also the beasts of the field to serve him. ^7 (M)All the nations shall serve him and ^(N)his son and ^(O)his grandson, ^(P)until the time of his own land comes. ^(Q)Then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave.

⁸ “‘“But if any nation or kingdom will not serve this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, ^(R)and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation ^(S)with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, declares the Lord, until I have consumed it by his hand. ⁹ So ^(T)do not listen to your ^(U)prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your ^(V)fortune-tellers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon.’ ^10 (W)For it is a lie that they are prophesying to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land, and I will drive you out, and you will perish. ^11 (X)But any nation that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave on its own land, to work it and dwell there, declares the Lord.”’”

¹² To ^(Y)Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke in like manner: ^(Z)“Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and ^(AA)serve him and his people and live. ^13 (AB)Why will you and your people die ^(AC)by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, ^(AD)as the Lord has spoken concerning any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? ^14 (AE)Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are saying to you, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon,’ ^(AF)for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you. ¹⁵ I have not sent them, declares the Lord, but ^(AG)they are prophesying falsely in my name, with the result that I will drive you out and you will perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying to you.”

¹⁶ Then I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus says the Lord: ^(AH)Do not listen to the words of your prophets who are prophesying to you, saying, ^(AI)‘Behold, the vessels of the Lord's house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon,’ ^(AJ)for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you. ^17 (AK)Do not listen to them; ^(AL)serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city ^(AM)become a desolation? ¹⁸ If they are prophets, and if the word of the Lord is with them, then ^(AN)let them intercede with the Lord of hosts, ^(AO)that the vessels that are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem may not go to Babylon. ^19 (AP)For thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars, the sea, the stands, and the rest of the vessels that are left in this city, ²⁰ which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take away, ^(AQ)when he took into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem— ²¹ thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ^(AR)concerning the vessels that are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem: ^22 (AS)They shall be carried to Babylon ^(AT)and remain there ^(AU)until the day when I visit them, declares the Lord. ^(AV)Then I will bring them back ^(AW)and restore them to this place.”

Hananiah the False Prophet

28 In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of ^(AX)Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, Hananiah the son of ^(AY)Azzur, the prophet from ^(AZ)Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying, ² “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(BA)I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. ^3 (BB)Within ^(BC)two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the Lord's house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. ⁴ I will also bring back to this place ^(BD)Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon, declares the Lord, ^(BE)for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.”

⁵ Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Hananiah the prophet in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord, ⁶ and the prophet Jeremiah said, ^(BF)“Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord make the words that you have prophesied come true, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the Lord, and all the exiles. ⁷ Yet hear now this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. ^8 (BG)The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms. ^9 (BH)As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent the prophet.”

¹⁰ Then the prophet Hananiah took the ^(BI)yoke-bars from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke them. ¹¹ And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, ^(BJ)“Thus says the Lord: ^(BK)Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of ^(BL)all the nations within two years.” But Jeremiah the prophet went his way.

¹² Sometime after the prophet ^(BM)Hananiah had broken the yoke-bars from off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ¹³ “Go, tell Hananiah, ‘Thus says the Lord: You have broken wooden bars, but you have made in their place bars of iron. ¹⁴ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put upon the neck of all these nations ^(BN)an iron yoke to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, ^(BO)and they shall serve him, ^(BP)for I have given to him even the beasts of the field.’” ¹⁵ And Jeremiah the prophet said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah, ^(BQ)the Lord has not sent you, ^(BR)and you have made this people trust in a lie. ¹⁶ Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, ^(BS)because you have uttered rebellion against the Lord.’”

¹⁷ In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died.

Jeremiah's Letter to the Exiles

29 These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to ^(BT)the surviving elders of the exiles, and to ^(BU)the priests, ^(BV)the prophets, and ^(BW)all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. ² This was after ^(BX)King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. ³ The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of ^(BY)Shaphan and Gemariah the son of ^(BZ)Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said: ⁴ “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ^5 (CA)Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. ⁶ Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. ⁷ But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and ^(CB)pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. ⁸ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^(CC)Do not let your prophets and ^(CD)your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,^{[c] 9} for ^(CE)it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; ^(CF)I did not send them, declares the Lord.

¹⁰ “For thus says the Lord: ^(CG)When seventy years are completed for Babylon, ^(CH)I will visit you, ^(CI)and I will fulfill to you my promise ^(CJ)and bring you back to this place. ^11 (CK)For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare^[d] and not for evil, ^(CL)to give you a future and a hope. ^12 (CM)Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, ^(CN)and I will hear you. ^13 (CO)You will seek me and find me, when you seek me ^(CP)with all your heart. ¹⁴ I will be found by you, declares the Lord, ^(CQ)and I will restore your fortunes and ^(CR)gather you from all the nations and all the places ^(CS)where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

¹⁵ “Because you have said, ‘The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,’ ¹⁶ thus says the Lord concerning ^(CT)the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile: ¹⁷ ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, behold, I am sending on them ^(CU)sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like ^(CV)vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. ¹⁸ I will pursue them with ^(CW)sword, famine, and pestilence, ^(CX)and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, ^(CY)to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations ^(CZ)where I have driven them, ¹⁹ because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the Lord, ^(DA)that I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the Lord.’ ²⁰ Hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles ^(DB)whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon: ²¹ ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, ^(DC)who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes. ^22 (DD)Because of them ^(DE)this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: “The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, ^(DF)whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,” ²³ because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, ^(DG)they have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and ^(DH)they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. ^(DI)I am the one who knows, ^(DJ)and I am witness, declares the Lord.’”

Shemaiah's False Prophecy

²⁴ To ^(DK)Shemaiah of Nehelam you shall say: ²⁵ “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to ^(DL)Zephaniah the son of ^(DM)Maaseiah the priest, and to all the priests, saying, ²⁶ ‘The Lord has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to have ^(DN)charge in the house of the Lord ^(DO)over every madman who prophesies, to put him in ^(DP)the stocks and neck irons. ²⁷ Now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah ^(DQ)of Anathoth who is prophesying to you? ²⁸ For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, “Your exile will be long; ^(DR)build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their produce.”’”

^29 (DS)Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet. ^30 (DT)Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ³¹ “Send to all the exiles, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord concerning ^(DU)Shemaiah of Nehelam: Because ^(DV)Shemaiah had prophesied to you ^(DW)when I did not send him, and has made you trust in a lie, ³² therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I will punish ^(DX)Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants. He shall not have anyone living among this people, ^(DY)and he shall not see the good that I will do to my people, declares the Lord, ^(DZ)for he has spoken rebellion against the Lord.’”