The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Jeremiah 27
1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim
the son of Josiah, king of Judah,
this word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh,
saying,
2 Yahweh says to me: “Make bonds and
bars, and put them on your neck.
3 Then send them to the king of Edom,
to the king of Moab, to the king of the
children of Ammon, to the king of Tyre,
and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of
the messengers who come to Jerusalem to
Zedekiah king of Judah.
4 Give them a command to their masters,
saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel
says, “You shall tell your masters:
5 ‘Ihavemade the earth,themen, andthe
animals that are on the surface ofthe earth
by my great power and by my outstretched
arm. I give it to whom it seems right to me.
6 Now I have given all these lands into
the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of
Babylon, my servant. I have also given the
animals of the field to him to serve him.
7 All the nations will serve him, his son,
and his son’s son, until the time of his own
land comes. Then many nations and great
kings will make him their bondservant.
8 It will happen that I will punish
the nation and the kingdom which will not
serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon, and that will not put their neck
under the yoke ofthe king ofBabylon,’ says
Yahweh, ‘with the sword, with famine,
and with pestilence, untilI have consumed
them by his hand.
9 But as for you, don’t listen to your
prophets,to your diviners,to your dreams,
to your soothsayers, or to your sorcerers,
who speak to you, saying, “You shall not
serve the king of Babylon;”
10 for they prophesy a lie to you, to remove
you far from your land, so that I
would drive you out, and you would perish.
11 But the nation that brings their neck
under the yoke of the king of Babylon and
serves him, that nation I will let remain
in their own land,’ says Yahweh; ‘and they
will till it and dwell in it.
12 I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah
according to all these words, saying, “Bring
your necks under the yoke of the king of
Babylon, and serve him and his people,
and live.
13 Why will youdie, youand your people,
by the sword, by the famine, and by the
pestilence, as Yahweh has spokenconcerning
then at ion that willnot serve the king of
Babylon?
14 Don’t listen to the words of the
prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You
shall not serve the king of Babylon;’ for
they prophesy a lie to you.
15 For I have not sent them,” says Yahweh,
“but they prophesy falsely in my
name; that I may drive you out, and that
you may perish, you, andtheprophets who
prophesy to you.”
16 Also I spoke to the priests and to all
this people, saying, Yahweh says, “Don’t
listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to
you, saying, ‘Behold, the vessels of
Yahweh’s house will now shortly
be brought again from Babylon;’ for they
prophesy a lie to you.
17 Don’t listen to them. Serve the king
of Babylon, and live. Why should this city
become a desolation?
18 But if they are prophets, and if
Yahweh’s word is with them, let them now
make intercession to Yahweh of Armies,
that the vessels which are left in Yahweh’s
house, in the house of the king of Judah,
and at Jerusalem, don’t go to Babylon.
19 ForYahwehof Armies says concerning
the pillars, concerning the sea, concerning
the bases, and concerning the rest of the
vessels that are left in this city,
20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon didn’t take when he carried
away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of
Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all
the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem—
21 yes, Yahweh of Armies, the God of
Israel, says concerning the vessels that are
left in Yahweh’s house, and in the house of
the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem:
22 ‘They will be carried to Babylon, and
there they will be, until the day that I visit
them,’ says Yahweh; ‘then I will bring them
up, and restore them to this place.’ ”