Jeremiah Meets Hananiah (28:1-17) 325We may have to face events and changes that take no account of our wishes
and our rights. But if so, we shall not give way to embittered and barren
pride, but consciously submit to divine judgment, and so prove ourselves
worthy to survive by identifying ourselves generously and unselfishly with
the life of the community and the sufferings of our fellow-men. "But any
nation which will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and
serve him, I will leave on its own land, to till it and dwell there, says the
Lord" (Jer. 27:11).E. Jeremiah Meets Hananiah ( 28:1-17)
28 1 And it happened in that year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah,
king of Judah, in the fourth yeara in the fifth month, Hananiah son of Azzur,
the prophet who was from Gibeon, said to me in the house of Yahweh in the
presence of the priests and all the people:(^2) Thus said Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel:
I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.^3 Within two years' time I
will bring back to this place all the vessels of the house of Yahweh that
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took from this place and brought to
Babylon.
(^4) And Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles of Judah
who came to Babylon, I will bring back to this place-oracle ofYahweh-
for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.
(^5) Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet in the presence of
the priests and in the presence of all the people who were standing in the
house of Yahweh;^6 and Jeremiah the prophet said:
Amen! So may Yahweh do! May Yahweh confirm your words that you
have prophesied-to bring back the vessels of the house of Yahweh and all
the exiles from Babylon to this place!^7 But do hear this word that I speak in
your ears and in the ears of all the people:^8 'The prophets who were before
me and before you, from ancient times, yes, they prophesied to many
lands and against great kingdoms of war and evil and pestilence.^9 The
prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of the prophet comes to be,
the prophet whom Yahweh has truly sent will be known.'
(^10) Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke bar from upon the neck of Jere-
miah the prophet and broke it.^11 And Hananiah said in the presence of all the
people:
Thus said Yahweh:
Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, within
two years' time from upon the neck of all the nations.
"Q is bassand, as in the beginning of the verse; Kt is the construct bifoat; see 32: I; 46:2; 51:59;
and elsewhere; cf. GKC § l 34p.