I also spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live!
Parallel translations
- WEB I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.
- KJV I spake also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.
- BSB And to Zedekiah king of Judah I spoke the same message: “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and live!
- NASB I spoke words like all these to Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people, and live!
- NLT Then I repeated this same message to King Zedekiah of Judah. “If you want to live, submit to the yoke of the king of Babylon and his people.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jeremiah urges King Zedekiah personally to submit to Babylon and live. The king himself must choose obedience over rebellion.
Overview
Jeremiah brings the same message directly to the king, the one with power to decide the nation's course. Submission to the yoke is framed as the path to life for king and people alike. The prophet risks much by counseling the politically unpopular course of surrender. His faithful, costly counsel exemplifies speaking God's truth to power regardless of the cost.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Jer 28:1That same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, Hananiah the son of Azzur, the prophet, who was of Gibeon, spoke to me in Yahweh’s house, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,
- Jer 38:17Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Yahweh, the God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you will go out to the king of Babylon’s princes, then your soul will live, and this city will not be burned with fire. You will live, along with your house.
- Prov 1:33But whoever listens to me will dwell securely, and will be at ease, without fear of harm.”
- Ezek 17:11–21Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
- Jer 27:2–3Yahweh says to me: “Make bonds and bars, and put them on your neck.
- Jer 27:8“‘“‘It will happen that the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish,’ says Yahweh, ‘with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.
- 2 Chr 36:11–13Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 27:12 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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