Jeremiah 27

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

In the bigynnyng of the rewme of Joachym, the sone of Josie, kyng of Juda, this word was maad of the Lord to Jeremye, and seide,

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.

The Lord seith these thingis to me, Make thou to thee boondis and chaynes, and thou schalt putte tho in thi necke;

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 thou schalt sende tho to the kyng of Edom, and to the kyng of Moab, and to the kyng of the sones of Amon, and to the kyng of Tyre, and to the kyng of Sidon, bi the hond of messangeris that camen to Jerusalem, and to Sedechie, kyng of Juda.

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 schalt comaunde to hem, that thei speke to her lordis, The Lord of oostis, God of Israel, seith these thingis, Ye schulen seie these thingis to youre lordis,

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.

Y made erthe, and man, and beestis that ben on the face of al erthe, in my greet strengthe, and in myn arm holdun forth; and Y yaf it to hym that plesyde bifore myn iyen.

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 therfor Y yaf alle these londis in the hond of Nabugodonosor, my seruaunt, the kyng of Babiloyne; ferthermore and Y yaf to hym the beestis of the feeld, that thei serue hym.

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 alle folkis schulen serue hym, and his sone, and the sone of his sone, til the tyme of his lond and of hym come; and many folkis and grete kyngis schulen serue hym.

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.

Forsothe the folk and rewme that serueth not Nabugodonosor, kyng of Babiloyne, and whoeuer bowith not his necke vndur the yok of the kyng of Babiloyne, Y schal visite on that folk in swerd, and hungur, and pestilence, seith the Lord, til Y waaste hem in his hond.

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.

Therfor nyle ye here youre profetis, and false dyuynouris, and dremeris, and dyuyneris bi chiteryng and fleyng of briddis, and witchis, that seien to you, Ye schulen not serue the kyng of Babiloyne;

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 thei profesien a lessyng to you, that thei make you fer fro youre lond, and caste out you, and ye perische.

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.”

Certis the folk that makith suget her nol vndur the yok of the kyng of Babiloyne, and serueth hym, Y schal dismytte it in his lond, seith the Lord; and it schal tile that lond, and schal dwelle therynne.

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 Y spak bi alle these wordis to Sedechie, kyng of Juda, and Y seide, Make ye suget youre neckis vndur the yok of the kyng of Babiloyne, and serue ye hym, and his puple, and ye schulen lyue.

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.

Whi schulen ye die, thou and thi puple, bi swerd, and hungur, and pestilence, as the Lord spak to the folk, that nolde serue to the kyng of Babiloyne?

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

Nyle ye here the wordis of profetis seiynge to you, Ye schulen not serue the kyng of Babiloyne; for thei speken leesyng to you, for Y sente not hem, seith the Lord;

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]!’”

and thei profesien falsly in my name, that thei caste out you, and that ye perische, bothe ye and the profetis that profesien to 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 Y spak to the preestis, and to this puple, and Y seide, The Lord God seith these thingis, Nyle ye here the wordis of youre profetis, that profesien to you, and seien, Lo! the vessels of the Lord schulen turne ayen now soone fro Babiloyne; for thei profesien a leesyng to 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.

Therfor nyle ye here hem, but serue ye to the kyng of Babiloyne, that ye lyue; whi is this citee youun in to wildirnesse?

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 thei ben profetis, and if the word of God is in hem, renne thei to the Lord of oostis, that the vessels whiche weren left in the hous of the Lord, and in the hous of the kyng of Juda, and in Jerusalem, come not in to Babiloyne.

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 the Lord of oostis seith these thingis to the pilers, and to the see, that is, a greet waischyng vessel, and to the foundementis, and to the remenauntis of vessels, that weren left in this citee,

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.

whiche Nabugodonosor, king of Babiloyne, took not, whanne he translatide Jeconye, the sone of Joachim, king of Juda, fro Jerusalem in to Babiloyne, and alle the principal men of Juda and of 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]:

For the Lord of oostis, God of Israel, seith these thingis to the vessels that ben left in the hous of the Lord, and in the hous of the king of Juda, and in Jerusalem, Tho schulen be translatid in to Babiloyne,

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.’”

and schulen be there `til to the dai of her visitacioun, seith the Lord; and Y schal make tho to be brouyt, and to be restorid in this place.