Yeremia 27:12-13

27:12 I told King Zedekiah of Judah the same thing. I said, ¹  “Submit ²  to the yoke of servitude to ³  the king of Babylon. Be subject to him and his people. Then you will continue to live. 27:13 There is no reason why you and your people should die in war ⁴  or from starvation or disease! ⁵  That’s what the Lord says will happen to any nation ⁶  that will not be subject to the king of Babylon.

Yeremia 28:13-14

28:13 “Go and tell Hananiah that the Lord says, ⁷  ‘You have indeed broken the wooden yoke. But you have ⁸  only succeeded in replacing it with an iron one! ⁹  28:14 For the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹⁰  says, “I have put an irresistible yoke of servitude on all these nations ¹¹  so they will serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. And they will indeed serve him. I have even given him control over the wild animals.”’” ¹² 

[27:12]  ¹ tn Heb “I spoke to Zedekiah…according to all these words, saying.”

[27:12]  ² sn The verbs in this verse are all plural. They are addressed to Zedekiah and his royal advisers (compare 22:2).

[27:12]  ³ tn Heb “put their necks in the yoke of.” See the study note on v. 2 for the figure.

[27:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “with/by the sword.”

[27:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “Why should you and your people die…?” The rhetorical question expects the answer made explicit in the translation, “There is no reason!”

[27:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “…disease according to what the Lord spoke concerning the nation that…”

[28:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “Hananiah, ‘Thus says the Lord….” The translation uses an indirect quotation here used to eliminate one level of embedded quotation.

[28:13]  ⁸ tn The Greek version reads “I have made/put” rather than “you have made/put.” This is the easier reading and is therefore rejected.

[28:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “the yoke bars of wood you have broken, but you have made in its stead yoke bars of iron.”

[28:13]  sn This whole incident (and the preceding one in Jer 28) is symbolic. Jeremiah’s wearing of the yoke was symbolic of the Lord’s message to submit to Babylonian authority. Hananiah’s breaking of the yoke was a prediction that that authority would not last beyond two years. By breaking the yoke he was encouraging rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar’s (and hence the Lord’s) authority (cf. 27:9, 14). However, rebelling would only result in further, harsher, more irresistible measures by Nebuchadnezzar to control such rebellion.

[28:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.” See the study notes on 2:19 and 7:3 for this title.

[28:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “An iron yoke I have put on the necks of all these nations.”

[28:14]  ¹² sn The emphasis is on the absoluteness of Nebuchadnezzar’s control. The statement is once again rhetorical and not to be taken literally. See the study note on 27:6.