Jeremiah 27

1 Soon after Zedekiah became the King of Judah, Yahweh gave a message to me.

In the beginning of the reign of Jehoyakim the son of Josiah the king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

2 This is what he said to me: “Make a (yoke/set of wooden bars to fasten around the neck of an ox), but fasten it around your own neck with leather straps.

Thus said the Lord to me, Make for thyself bands and yoke-bars, and put them around thy neck,

3 [Then] send messages to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon, by telling those messages to the ambassadors from those countries who have come to Jerusalem to [talk to] King Zedekiah.

And send such to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the children of 'Ammon, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Zidon, by means of the messengers who come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah the king of Judah;

4 Tell them to give this message to their kings: This is what the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom the Israeli [people worship, ]:

And thou shalt charge them unto their masters, saying, Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Thus shall ye say unto your masters,

5 ‘With my very great power [MTY, DOU] I created the earth and the people and the animals that are on the earth. And I can give my power to anyone whom I want to.

It is I who have made the earth, the men, and the beasts that are upon the face of the earth, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and I have given it unto the one who seemeth proper in my eyes.

6 And now I am going to enable King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who does what I want him to do, to control your countries. I am going to enable him to rule everything, even the wild animals.

And now it is I who have given all these countries into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and also the beasts of the field have I given him to serve him.

7 [The people of] all the nations will work for him, and [later] for his son, and [later] for his grandson, until the time for them [to rule] is finished. Then [the armies of] many great kings from many nations will conquer Babylon.’

And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the time of his land is also come in its turn: when many nations and great kings shall make it serve.

8 But now I tell you that you must [do what the king of Babylon wants you to do] [MET], [like an ox that has] a yoke on its neck [must do what its master wants it to do]. I will punish any nation that refuses to do that. I will cause those people to experience war and famine and diseases, until [the armies of] Babylon have conquered that nation.

And it shall come to pass, that the nation and the kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put its neck in the yoke of the king of Babylon, —even that nation will I punish with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, saith the Lord, until I have made an end of them by his hand.

9 So, do not pay attention to your [false] prophets and fortune-tellers and people who predict what will happen by working magic or by talking with spirits of dead people. Those people say that the king of Babylon will not conquer your country.

But do ye not hearken to your prophets, and to your diviners, and to your dreamers, and to your enchanters, and to your sorcerers, who speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon;

10 Those people are [all] liars. [If you believe what they say, ] it will result in your being exiled from your land. I will cause you to be taken from your land, and you will die far away.

For falsehood do they prophesy unto you, in order to remove you far from your land; and that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish.

11 But the people of any country who do what the King of Babylon wants them to do will remain in their own country and be able to plant their crops [MTY] [as they always have done. That will surely happen because I], Yahweh, have said it.”

But the nation that will bring its neck into the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, —that one will I then let remain quietly in its own land, saith the Lord: and it shall till it, and dwell therein.

12 [After I gave that message to those ambassadors, ] I gave the same message to King Zedekiah of Judah. [I said to him, ] “If you want to remain alive, do what the King of Babylon and his officials want you to do [MET].

And unto Zedekiah the king of Judah did I speak in accordance with all these words, saying, Bring your neck into the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, that ye may live.

13 [It would be foolish for you not to do that, because the result would be that] you and your people would die by [your enemies’] swords or by famine or diseases, which Yahweh will cause any nation to experience that refuses to allow the King of Babylon to rule them.

Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by pestilence, as the Lord hath spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

14 Do not pay attention to those prophets who say to you, ‘The King of Babylon will not conquer your country.’ They are liars.

And do ye not hearken unto the words of the prophets that say unto you, as followeth, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon; for a falsehood do they prophesy unto you.

15 [This is what] Yahweh says: ‘I have not appointed those prophets. They are saying that I [MTY] gave them messages, but they are lying. So, [if you believe them, ] I will expel you from this land. And you and all those prophets will die [in Babylon]!’”

For I have not sent them, saith the Lord, yet they prophesy in my name falsely: in order that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto you.

16 Then I spoke to the priests and the other people, and I said, “This is what Yahweh says: ‘Do not believe your prophets who tell you that all the gold items [that were taken] from my temple [by soldiers from Babylon] will soon be returned from Babylon, because what they are prophesying is a lie.

And unto the priests and unto all this people did I speak, saying, Thus hath said the Lord, Do not hearken to the words of your prophets that prophesy unto you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the house of the Lord shall be brought again from Babylon now speedily; for a falsehood do they prophesy unto you.

17 Do not pay attention to what they say. Surrender to the king of Babylon. If you do that, you will remain alive. [If you do not do that] [RHQ], this entire city will be destroyed.

Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon, that ye may live: wherefore should this city become a ruin?

18 If they are really prophets who speak messages from me, tell them to plead to me, the Commander of the armies of angels, that [the soldiers from Babylon] will not be allowed to take away to Babylon the valuable items that [still] remain in the temple and in the king’s palace and in [the other palaces in] Jerusalem.

And if they be prophets, and if the word of the Lord be with them, let them now make intercession with the Lord of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, may not be carried to Babylon.

19 [I say this] because the [huge] pillars [that are in front of the temple] and the large water tank and the [ten water] carts and all the other items that are used [for offering sacrifices are still in this city].

For thus hath said the Lord of hosts of the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that are left in this city,

20 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon left those things here when he exiled Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, to Babylon, along with all the [other] leaders of Jerusalem and [the leaders of other places in] Judah.

Which Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon did not take away, when he carried away into exile Jechonyah the son of Jehoyakim the king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem;

21 [I], the Commander of the armies of angels, the God whom the Israeli [people worship], say this about all those valuable things that are still outside the temple and in the palace of the king of Judah and in [other places in]:

[Yea] for thus hath said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem,

22 They will [all] be carried away to Babylon. And they will stay there until I say that they should be brought back to Jerusalem. Then they will be bought back here. [That is what I, ] Yahweh, say.’”

Unto Babylon shall they be carried, and there shall they remain until the day that I think of them, saith the Lord, when I will bring them up, and restore them to this place.