Jeremiah 27:1-15 - Jeremiah Uses Fetters And Yokes To Illustrate His Message Of Submission

¹ In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, which spake thus unto me, ² "Make thee bonds and chains, and put them about thy neck, ³ and send them to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of Ammon, the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon: and that by the messengers, which shall come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah the king of Judah, ⁴ and bid them say unto their masters, 'Thus sayeth the LORD of Hosts the God of Israel, speak thus unto your masters: ⁵ I am he that made the earth, the men, and the cattle that are upon the ground, with my great power and outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it pleased me. ⁶ And now will I deliver all these lands into the power of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant. The beasts also of the field shall I give him to do him service. ⁷ And all people shall serve him, and his son, and his child's children, until the time of the same land be come also: Yea, many people and great kings shall serve him.

⁸ Moreover, that people and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar, and that will not put their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, the same people will I visit with the sword, with hunger, and with pestilence, until I have consumed them in his hands, sayeth the LORD. ⁹ And therefore follow not your Prophets, soothsayers, expounders of dreams, charmers and witches, which say unto you: Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon. ¹⁰ For they preach you lies, to bring you far from your land, and that I might cast you out, and destroy you. ¹¹ But the people that put their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those I will let remain still in their own land, sayeth the LORD, and they shall occupy it, and dwell therein.'"

¹² All these things told I Zedekiah the king of Judah, and said, "Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, that ye may live. ¹³ Why wilt thou and thy people perish with the sword, with hunger, with pestilence: like as the LORD hath devised for all people that will not serve the king of Babylon? ¹⁴ Therefore give no ear unto those Prophets that tell you, 'Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon.' 'For they preach you lies, ¹⁵ neither have I sent them, sayeth the LORD: howbeit they are bold, falsely for to prophesy in my name: that I might the sooner drive you out, and that ye might perish with your preachers.'"