Jeremiah 27

1. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,

2. “Thus says the LORD to me, ‘Make bonds and yokes for yourself, and put them on your neck.

3. And 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 the messengers who came to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.

4. And command them to say to their masters, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Thus you shall say to your masters,

5. ‘I have made the earth, man, and the animals on the face of the earth by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given it to whom it seemed right to Me.

6. And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant. And I have also given him the beast of the field to serve him.

7. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the time of his own land comes. And then many nations and great kings shall enslave him.

8. And it shall be, the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish,’ says the LORD, ‘with the sword and with the famine, and with the plague, until I have destroyed them by his hand.

9. Therefore, do not hearken to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying, “You shall not serve the king of Babylon.”

10. For they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land, and that I should drive you out and you should perish.

11. But the nations who bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those I will let remain in their own land,’ says the LORD. ‘And they shall work it and dwell in it.’ ” ’ ”

12. 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.

13. Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague, as the LORD has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?

14. Therefore do not hearken to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon.’ For they prophesy a lie to you.

15. For I have not sent them,” says the LORD; “yet they prophesy a lie in My name, so that I might drive you out, and that you might perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you.”

16. Also I spoke to the priests and to all the people, saying, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Do not hearken to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, “Behold, the vessels of the LORD’S house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon.” For they prophesy a lie to you.

17. Do not hearken to them; serve the king of Babylon and live. For why should this city be laid waste?’ ”

18. But if they are prophets, and if the Word of the LORD is with them, let them now pray to the LORD of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of the LORD, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, may not go to Babylon.

19. For thus says the LORD of hosts, concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the rest of the vessels which remain in this city,

20. Which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he exiled Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem;

21. Yea, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the LORD and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem,

22. “They shall be carried to Babylon, and they shall be there until the day that I remember them,” says the LORD. “Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.”