Discovery BoxJeremiah 27:11-14 
Context27:11 Things will go better for the nation that submits to the yoke of servitude to 1 the king of Babylon and is subject to him. I will leave that nation 2 in its native land. Its people can continue to farm it and live in it. I, the Lord, affirm it!”’” 3
27:12 I told King Zedekiah of Judah the same thing. I said, 4 “Submit 5 to the yoke of servitude to 6 the king of Babylon. Be subject to him and his people. Then you will continue to live. 27:13 There is no reason why you and your people should die in war 7 or from starvation or disease! 8 That’s what the Lord says will happen to any nation 9 that will not be subject to the king of Babylon. 27:14 Do not listen to the prophets who are telling you that you do not need to serve 10 the king of Babylon. For they are prophesying lies to you.
1 tn Heb “put their necks in the yoke of.” See the study note on v. 2 for the figure.
2 tn The words “Things will go better for” are not in the text. They are supplied contextually as a means of breaking up the awkward syntax of the original which reads “The nation which brings its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and subjects itself to him, I will leave it…”
3 tn Heb “oracle of the
4 tn Heb “I spoke to Zedekiah…according to all these words, saying.”
5 sn The verbs in this verse are all plural. They are addressed to Zedekiah and his royal advisers (compare 22:2).
6 tn Heb “put their necks in the yoke of.” See the study note on v. 2 for the figure.
7 tn Heb “with/by the sword.”
8 tn Heb “Why should you and your people die…?” The rhetorical question expects the answer made explicit in the translation, “There is no reason!”
9 tn Heb “…disease according to what the
10 tn The verb in this context is best taken as a negative obligatory imperfect. See IBHS 508 §31.4g for discussion and examples. See Exod 4:15 as an example of positive obligation.
