It is good for a man ¹  to bear ²  the yoke ³  while he is young. ⁴ 

For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry.”

At that time ¹  the Lord will remove their burden from your shoulders, ²  and their yoke from your neck; the yoke will be taken off because your neck will be too large. ³ 

The Lord told me, ¹  “Make a yoke ²  out of leather straps and wooden crossbars and put it on your neck.

“The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹  says, ‘I will break the yoke of servitude ²  to the king of Babylon.

The prophet Hananiah then took the yoke off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck and broke it.

No, this is the kind of fast I want. ¹  I want you ²  to remove the sinful chains, to tear away the ropes of the burdensome yoke, to set free the oppressed, ³  and to break every burdensome yoke.

“Go and tell Hananiah that the Lord says, ¹  ‘You have indeed broken the wooden yoke. But you have ²  only succeeded in replacing it with an iron one! ³ 

And now, ¹  I will break Assyria’s ²  yoke bar ³  from your neck; ⁴  I will tear apart the shackles ⁵  that are on you.” ⁶ 

My father imposed heavy demands on you; I will make them even heavier. ¹  My father punished you with ordinary whips; I will punish you with whips that really sting your flesh.’” ² 

My father imposed heavy demands on you; I will make them even heavier. ¹  My father punished you with ordinary whips; I will punish you with whips that really sting your flesh.’” ² 

You must not plow with an ox and a donkey harnessed together.

“Your father made us work too hard. ¹  Now if you lighten the demands he made and don’t make us work as hard, we will serve you.” ² 

“Your father made us work too hard! ¹  Now if you lighten the demands he made and don’t make us work as hard, we will serve you.” ² 

Then the elders of the city nearest to the corpse ¹  must take from the herd a heifer that has not been worked – that has never pulled with the yoke –

So now go and make a new cart. Get two cows that have calves and that have never had a yoke placed on them. Harness the cows to the cart and take their calves from them back to their stalls.

and followed ¹  the advice of the younger ones. He said, “My father imposed heavy demands on you; I will make them even heavier. ²  My father punished you with ordinary whips; I will punish you with whips that really sting your flesh.” ³ 

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 

I told King Zedekiah of Judah the same thing. I said, ¹  “Submit ²  to the yoke of servitude to ³  the king of Babylon. Be subject to him and his people. Then you will continue to live.

But shortly after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, the Lord spoke to Jeremiah.