Reference: Yoke
American
A symbol of subjection and servitude, 1Ki 12:4; an iron yoke, of severe oppression, De 28:48. The ceremonial law was a yoke, a burden-some restriction, Ac 15:10; Ga 5:1. The withdrawing or breaking of a yoke denoted a temporary or an unlimited emancipation form bondage, Isa 58:6; Jer 2:20, and sometimes the disowning of rightful authority, Jer 5:5. The iron yoke imposed by our sins, none but God can remove, La 1:14; but the yoke of Christ's service is easy and light, Mt 11:29-30.
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therefore thou shall serve thine enemies that LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things. And he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he has destroyed thee.
Thy father made our yoke grievous. Now therefore make thou lighter the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, and we will serve thee.
Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
For from old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bonds. And thou said, I will not serve, for upon every high hill and under every green tree thou bowed thyself, playing the harlot.
I will go to the great men, and will speak to them, for they know the way of LORD, and the law of their God. But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, because I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is befitting, and my burden is light.
Now therefore why do ye challenge God, to place a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
Stand firm therefore in the liberty in which Christ freed us, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage.
Easton
(1.) Fitted on the neck of oxen for the purpose of binding to them the traces by which they might draw the plough, etc. (Nu 19:2; De 21:3). It was a curved piece of wood called 'ol.
(2.) In Jer 27:2; 28:10,12 the word in the Authorized Version rendered "yoke" is motah, which properly means a "staff," or as in the Revised Version, "bar."
These words in the Hebrew are both used figuratively of severe bondage, or affliction, or subjection (Le 26:13; 1Ki 12:4; Isa 47:6; La 1:14; 3:27). In the New Testament the word "yoke" is also used to denote servitude (Mt 11:29-30; Ac 15:10; Ga 5:1).
(3.) In 1Sa 11:7; 1Ki 19:21; Job 1:3 the word thus translated is tzemed, which signifies a pair, two oxen yoked or coupled together, and hence in 1Sa 14:14 it represents as much land as a yoke of oxen could plough in a day, like the Latin jugum. In Isa 5:10 this word in the plural is translated "acres."
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I am LORD your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen. And I have broken the bars of your yoke, and made you go upright.
This is the statute of the law which LORD has commanded, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, in which is no blemish, [and] upon which a yoke never came.
and it shall be, that the city which is nearest to the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take a heifer of the herd, which has not been worked with, and which has not drawn in the yoke,
And he took a yoke of oxen, and cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the borders of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, Whoever does not come forth behind Saul and behind Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen. A
And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armor bearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were half a furrow's length in an acre of land.
His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-donkeys, and a very great household, so that this man was the greatest of all the sons of the east.
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield [but] an ephah.
I was angry with my people. I profaned my inheritance, and gave them into thy hand. Thou showed them no mercy. Upon the aged thou have laid thy yoke very heavily.
Then Hananiah the prophet took the bar from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, and broke it.
Then the word of LORD came to Jeremiah after Hananiah the prophet had broken the bar from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, because I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is befitting, and my burden is light.
Now therefore why do ye challenge God, to place a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
Stand firm therefore in the liberty in which Christ freed us, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage.
Fausets
mot, the wooden bow (ol) bound to the ox's neck: the two are combined, "bands of the yoke" (Le 26:13; Eze 34:27; Jer 2:20, rather "thou hast broken the yoke and burst the bands which I laid on thee," i.e. My laws, setting them at defiance, Jer 5:5; Ps 2:3). Contrast the world's heavy yoke (1Ki 12:4,9,11; Isa 9:11) with Christ's "easy yoke" (Mt 11:29-30). Tsemed, a pair of oxen (1Sa 11:7), or donkeys (Jg 19:10); a couple of horsemen (Isa 21:7); also what land a pair of oxen could plow in a day (Isa 5:10, "ten acres," literally, ten yokes; Latin: jugum, jugerum; 1Sa 14:14).
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I am LORD your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen. And I have broken the bars of your yoke, and made you go upright.
But the man would not tarry that night, but he rose up and departed, and came opposite Jebus (the same is Jerusalem). And there were with him a couple of saddled donkeys. His concubine was also with him.
And he took a yoke of oxen, and cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the borders of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, Whoever does not come forth behind Saul and behind Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen. A
And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armor bearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were half a furrow's length in an acre of land.
Thy father made our yoke grievous. Now therefore make thou lighter the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, and we will serve thee.
And he said to them, What counsel give ye, that we may return an answer to this people who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke that thy father put upon us lighter?
And now whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.
Let us break their bonds apart, and cast away their cords from us.
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield [but] an ephah.
Therefore LORD will set up on high against him the adversaries of Rezin, and will stir up his enemies,
and when he sees a troop, horsemen in pairs, a troop of donkeys, a troop of camels, he shall hearken diligently with much heed.
For from old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bonds. And thou said, I will not serve, for upon every high hill and under every green tree thou bowed thyself, playing the harlot.
I will go to the great men, and will speak to them, for they know the way of LORD, and the law of their God. But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
And the tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land. And they shall know that I am LORD when I have broken the bars of their yoke, and have delivered them
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, because I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is befitting, and my burden is light.
Hastings
Morish
The harness that secures an animal to a cart or plough; and the beam to which two animals are fastened for any purpose of labour; it is also used to denote the number two, as 'a yoke of oxen.' 1Sa 11:7. It is employed as a symbol of servitude and slavery. Jer 28:2-14; 1Ti 6:1. Also of the grievous bondage of being under the law. Ac 15:10; Ga 5:1. The Lord Jesus invites the believer to take His yoke upon him, and to learn of Him; that is, giving up self-will, to be in submission to the will of God, content to be in the lowest place; and such will find rest to their souls. His yoke is easy, and His burden is light. Mt 11:29-30.
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And he took a yoke of oxen, and cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the borders of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, Whoever does not come forth behind Saul and behind Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen. A
Thus speaks LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two full years I will bring again into this place all the vessels of LORD's house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried to Babylon. read more. And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, who went to Babylon, says LORD, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people who stood in the house of LORD, even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen! LORD do so. LORD perform thy words which thou have prophesied, to bring again the vessels of LORD's house, and all those of the captivity, from Babylon to this place. Nevertheless hear thou now this word that I speak in thine ears, and in the ears of all the people: The prophets who have been before me and before thee of old prophesied against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence. The prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then the prophet shall be known that LORD has truly sent him. Then Hananiah the prophet took the bar from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, and broke it. And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus says LORD: Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon within two full years from off the neck of all the nations. And the prophet Jeremiah went Then the word of LORD came to Jeremiah after Hananiah the prophet had broken the bar from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Go, and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus says LORD: Thou have broken the bars of wood, but I have made in their stead bars of iron. For thus says LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, that they may served Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him. And I have given him the beasts of the fie
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, because I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is befitting, and my burden is light.
Now therefore why do ye challenge God, to place a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
Stand firm therefore in the liberty in which Christ freed us, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage.
Smith
Yoke.
1. A well-known implement of husbandry, frequently used metaphorically for subjection, e.g.
1Ki 12:4,9-11; Isa 9:4; Jer 5:5
hence an "iron yoke" represents an unusually galling bondage.
De 28:48; Jer 28:13
2. A pair of oxen, so termed as being yoked together.
The Hebrew term is also applied to asses,
and mules,
and even to a couple of riders.
3. The term is also applied to a certain amount of land,
equivalent to that which a couple of oxen could plough in a day,
(Authorized Version "acre"), corresponding to the Latin jugum.
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therefore thou shall serve thine enemies that LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things. And he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he has destroyed thee.
But the man would not tarry that night, but he rose up and departed, and came opposite Jebus (the same is Jerusalem). And there were with him a couple of saddled donkeys. His concubine was also with him.
And he took a yoke of oxen, and cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the borders of Israel by the hand of messengers, saying, Whoever does not come forth behind Saul and behind Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen. A
And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his armor bearer made, was about twenty men, within as it were half a furrow's length in an acre of land.
Thy father made our yoke grievous. Now therefore make thou lighter the grievous service of thy father, and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, and we will serve thee.
And he said to them, What counsel give ye, that we may return an answer to this people who have spoken to me, saying, Make the yoke that thy father put upon us lighter? And the young men that grew up with him spoke to him, saying, Thus shall thou say to this people that spoke to thee, saying, Thy father made our yoke heavy, but make thou it lighter to us; thus shall thou speak to them, My little f read more. And now whereas my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.
And Naaman said, If not, yet, I pray thee, let there be given to thy servant two mules' burden of dirt, for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt-offering nor sacrifice to other gods, but to LORD.
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield [but] an ephah.
For the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, thou have broken as in the day of Midian.
I will go to the great men, and will speak to them, for they know the way of LORD, and the law of their God. But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
Go, and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus says LORD: Thou have broken the bars of wood, but I have made in their stead bars of iron.