Jeremiah 27:1-15

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

The Sign of the Yoke

27 In the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah^[a] son of Josiah of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord.^{(A) 2} Thus the Lord said to me: Make for yourself yoke straps and bars and put them on your neck.^{(B) 3} Send them to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon by the hand of the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to King Zedekiah of Judah.^{(C) 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 by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the people and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever I please.^{(D) 6} Now I have given all these lands into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, my servant, and I have given him even the wild animals of the field to serve him.^{(E) 7} All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave.^(F)

⁸ But if any nation or kingdom will not serve this king, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, then I will punish that nation with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, says the Lord, until I have completed its destruction by his hand.^{(G) 9} You, therefore, must not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers,^[b] your soothsayers, or your sorcerers, who are saying to you, “You shall not serve the king of Babylon.”^{(H) 10} For they are prophesying a lie to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land; I will drive you out, and you will perish.^{(I) 11} 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, says the Lord, to till it and to live there.^(J)

¹² I spoke to King Zedekiah of Judah in the same way: Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.^{(K) 13} Why should you and your people die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, as the Lord has spoken concerning any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?^{(L) 14} Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are saying to you, “You shall not serve the king of Babylon,” for they are prophesying a lie to you.^{(M) 15} I have not sent them, says the Lord, but 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.^(N)