Jeremiah 21-36: A Translation 17King Jehoiakim, and he struck him down with the sword and cast his dead
body into the graves of the common people.(^24) But the hand of Ahikam son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so as not to give
him into the hand of the people to put him to death.
D. Jeremiah and the Yoke Bars (27:1-22)
27 1 1n the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, this
word came to Jeremiah from Yahweh.^2 Thus Yahweh said to me: Make for
yourself straps and yoke bars; then you shall put them upon your neck.^3 You
shall also send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the
king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon by the
hand of messengers who are coming to Jerusalem, to Zedekiah, king of Judah.
(^4) And you shall command them to their masters:
Thus said Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel:
Thus you shall say to your masters:^5 I, I made the earth, human and beast
that are on the face of the earth, with my great strength and with my out-
stretched arm, and I give it to whoever seems right in my eyes.^6 And now
I, I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of
Babylon, my servant; and even the beasts of the field I have given to him,
to serve him.^7 So all the nations shall serve him and his son and his grand-
son until the time of his land comes-even he! Then many nations and
great kings shall make him serve!
(^8) And it shall be that the nation or the kingdom who does not serve him,
that is, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and who will not put its neck
into the yoke of the king of Babylon, by sword and by famine and by pes-
tilence I will reckon with that nation-oracle of Yahweh-until I have
consumed them by his hand.
(^9) And you, do not you listen to your prophets, and to your diviners, and to
your dreamers, and to your soothsayers, and to your sorcerers-they who
are saying to you: 'You shall not serve the king of Babylon.'^10 Indeed a lie
they are prophesying to you, in order to remove you far from your soil, for
I will disperse you and you will perish. "But the nation who does bring its
neck into the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serves him, I will then leave
it on its own soil-oracle of Yahweh-to work it and dwell upon it.
(^12) And to Zedekiah, king of Judah, I spoke all these words: Bring your necks into
the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live!^13 Why
should you die, you and your people, by sword, by famine, and by pestilence
according to what Yahweh has spoken to the nation that will not serve the king
of Babylon?
(^14) And do not listen to the words of the prophets who are saying to you: 'You
shall not serve the king of Babylon.' Indeed a lie they are prophesying to