'Yoke' in the Bible

For long ago I broke your yoke;I tore off your chains.You insisted, “I will not serve!”On every high hilland under every green treeyou lie down like a prostitute.

I will go to the powerfuland speak to them.Surely they know the way of the Lord,the justice of their God.However, these also had broken the yokeand torn off the chains.

“This is what the Lord said to me: Make chains and yoke bars for yourself and put them on your neck.

“As for the nation or kingdom that does not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and does not place its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish by sword, famine, and plague”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“until through him I have destroyed it.

But as for the nation that will put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave it in its own land, and that nation will cultivate it and reside in it.” This is the Lord’s declaration.

I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah in the same way: “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, serve him and his people, and live!

“This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

And I will restore to this place Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’”

The prophet Hananiah then took the yoke bar from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke it.

In the presence of all the people Hananiah proclaimed, “This is what the Lord says: ‘In this way, within two years I will break the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon from the neck of all the nations.’” Jeremiah the prophet then went on his way.

The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke bar from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet:

“Go say to Hananiah: This is what the Lord says, ‘You broke a wooden yoke bar, but in its place you will make an iron yoke bar.’

For this is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says, ‘I have put an iron yoke on the neck of all these nations that they might serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and they will serve him. I have also put the wild animals under him.’”

“On that day”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts—“I will break his yoke from your neck and tear off your chains so strangers will never again enslave him.