Symbol of the Bonds and Yokes
1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah,king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from theLord, saying,
2 “Thus says theLordto me: ‘Make for yourselves bonds and yokes,and put them on your neck,
3 and 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 messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.
4 And command them to say to their masters, “Thus says theLordof hosts, the God of Israel—thus you shall say to your masters:
5 ‘I have made the earth, the man and the beast thatareon the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, andhave given it to whom it seemed proper to Me.
6 And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon,My servant; andthe beasts of the field I have also given him to serve him.
7 So all nations shall serve him and his son and his son’s son,until the time of his land comes;and then many nations and great kings shall make him serve them.
8 And it shall be,thatthe nation and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish,’ says theLord, ‘with the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.
9 Therefore do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers, or your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, “You shall not serve the king of Babylon.”
10 For they prophesy alie to you, to remove you far from your land; and I will drive you out, and you will perish.
11 But the nations that bring their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let them remain in their own land,’ says theLord, ‘and they shall till it and dwell in it.’ ” ’ ”
12 I also spoke toZedekiah 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 you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as theLordhas spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?
14 Thereforedo not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesya lie to you;
15 for I havenot sent them,” says theLord, “yet they prophesy a lie in My name, that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you.”
16 Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus says theLord: ‘Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, “Behold,the vessels of theLord’s house will now shortly be brought back from Babylon”; for they prophesy a lie to you.
17 Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live! Why should this city be laid waste?
18 But if theyareprophets, and if the word of theLordis with them, let them now make intercession to theLordof hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of theLord,inthe house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, do not go to Babylon.’
19 “For thus says theLordof hostsconcerning the pillars, concerning the Sea, concerning the carts, and concerning the remainder of the vessels that remain in this city,
20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take, when he carried awaycaptive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem—
21 yes, thus says theLordof hosts, the God of Israel, concerning thevessels that remain in the house of theLord, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem:
22 ‘They shall becarried to Babylon, and there they shall be until the day that Ivisit them,’ says theLord. ‘ThenI will bring them up and restore them to this place.’ ”