Jeremiah 27

The yoke of Babylon

1At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD: 2“The LORD said this to me: Make straps and yoke bars for yourself, and put them on your neck. 3Send them to the kings of Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, Tyre, and Sidon through the messengers who have come to Jerusalem to King Zedekiah of Judah. 4Give the messengers this charge for their masters: ‘The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Tell your masters this: 5I made the earth, the people, and the animals on the face of the earth by my great power and my outstretched arm. I give it to whomever I see fit. 6Now I have put all these lands into the hand of my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I have even given him the wild animals to serve him. 7All the nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson, until the time comes for his own land as well. Then many nations and great kings will enslave him.

8Any nation or kingdom that will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, that will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will call to account with sword, famine, and plague, declares the LORD, until I finish them off by his hand. 9So do not listen to your prophets, diviners, dreams, omen readers, or sorcerers who tell you, “You will not serve the king of Babylon.” 10They are prophesying lies to you, which will take you far from your soil. I will drive you out, and you will perish. 11But any nation that puts its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, I will leave on its own soil, declares the LORD, to cultivate it and live there.’”

The word to Zedekiah

12I spoke these same words to Zedekiah king of Judah: “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon. Serve him and his people, and live. 13Why should you and your people die by sword, famine, and plague, as the LORD has said about any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? 14Do not listen to the words of the prophets who tell you, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’ They are prophesying lies to you. 15‘I did not send them,’ declares the LORD, ‘yet they prophesy falsely in my name. The result will be that I drive you out, and you perish—you and the prophets who prophesy to you.’”

The temple vessels

16I also spoke to the priests and all this people: “The LORD says: Do not listen to your prophets who prophesy to you, ‘Look, the vessels of the house of the LORD will soon be brought back from Babylon!’ They are prophesying lies to you. 17Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should this city become a ruin? 18If they really are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, let them plead with the LORD of hosts that the vessels still in the house of the LORD, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem will not go to Babylon. 19For the LORD of hosts says this about the pillars, the Sea, the stands, and the rest of the vessels left in this city, 20which 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: 21Yes, the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says this about the vessels left in the house of the LORD, in the palace of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem: 22‘They will be brought to Babylon and remain there until the day I attend to them, declares the LORD. Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.’”