Jeremiah 27:1–11

THE YOKE OF BABYLON

27At the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah^B son of Josiah, king of Judah,^c this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord:^{C 2}This is what the Lord said to me: “Make chains and yoke bars^d for yourself and put them on your neck.^{e 3}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^f through messengers who are coming to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem. ⁴Command them to go to their masters, saying, ‘This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Tell this to your masters: ⁵“By my great strength and outstretched arm,^g I made the earth,^h and the people, and animals on the face of the earth. I give it to anyone I please.^{Di 6}So now I have placed all these lands under the authority of my servant^j Nebuchadnezzar,^k king of Babylon. I have even given him the wild animals to serve him. ⁷All nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson until the time for his own land comes, and then many nations and great kings will enslave him.^l

⁸“ ‘ “As for the nation or kingdom that does not serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and does not place its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish by sword, famine, and plague—this is the Lord’s declaration—until through him I have destroyed it. ⁹So you should not listen to your prophets, diviners,^m dreamers, fortune-tellers,ⁿ or sorcerers^o who say to you, ‘Don’t serve the king of Babylon!’ ¹⁰They are prophesying a lie^p to you so that you will be removed from your land. I will banish you, and you will perish. ¹¹But as for the nation that will put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave it in its own land, and that nation will cultivate^E it and reside in it. This is the Lord’s declaration.” ’ ”