This is what the LORD said to me: “Make for yourself a yoke out of leather straps and put it on your neck.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh says to me: “Make bonds and bars, and put them on your neck.
- KJV Thus saith the LORD to me; Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck,
- NKJV “Thus says the Lord to me: ‘Make for yourselves bonds and yokes, and put them on your neck,
- NASB this is what the Lord has said to me: “Make for yourself restraints and yokes and put them on your neck,
- NLT This is what the Lord said to me: “Make a yoke, and fasten it on your neck with leather straps.
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
God tells Jeremiah to make a yoke and wear it on his own neck as a living sign. The prophet embodies the message of submission to Babylon.
Overview
Jeremiah is commanded to perform a symbolic action, a common prophetic method of vivid teaching. The yoke of bonds and bars pictures servitude under Nebuchadnezzar that God has decreed. By wearing it himself, Jeremiah identifies with the message he proclaims to the nations. The image of the yoke later finds a gracious counterpart in Christ's easy yoke offered to the weary (Matthew 11:29-30).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Amos 7:1This is what the Lord GOD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts just after the king’s harvest, as the late spring crop was coming up.
- Jer 19:1–11This is what the LORD says: “Go and buy a clay jar from a potter. Take some of the elders of the people and leaders of the priests,
- Jer 27:12And 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!
- Jer 13:1–11This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and buy yourself a linen loincloth and put it around your waist, but do not let it touch water.”
- Isa 20:2–4the LORD had already spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and the sandals from your feet.” And Isaiah did so, walking around naked and barefoot.
- Ezek 24:3–12Now speak a parable to this rebellious house and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Put the pot on the fire; put it on and pour in the water.
- Ezek 4:1–5“Now you, son of man, take a brick, place it before you, and draw on it the city of Jerusalem.
- Amos 7:4This is what the Lord GOD showed me: The Lord GOD was calling for judgment by fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the land.
- Ezek 12:1–28Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
- 1 Kgs 11:30–31And Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing, tore it into twelve pieces,
- Jer 28:10–14Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke it.
- Jer 18:2–10“Go down at once to the potter’s house, and there I will reveal My message to you.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 27:2 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.