Jeremiah 27:2

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

This is what the LORD said to me: "Make a yoke out of straps and crossbars and put it on your neck.

thus says the LORD to me—" Make for yourself bonds and yokes and put them on your neck,

The LORD said to me, "Make a yoke, and fasten it on your neck with leather thongs.

"Make a harness and a yoke and then harness yourself up.

This is what the Lord has said to me: Make for yourself bands and yokes and put them on your neck;

Thus the LORD said to me: Make yourself a yoke of straps and bars, and put them on your neck.

"Thus says the LORD to me: ‘Make for yourselves bonds and yokes, and put them on your neck,

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

¹ tn There is some disjunction in the narrative of this chapter. The introduction in v. 1 presents this as a third person narrative. But the rest of the passage reports the narrative in first person. Thus the text reads here “Thus the Lord said to me…” In vv. 12, 16 the narrative picks up in first person report and never indicates that Jeremiah carried out the command in vv. 2-4 that introduces the message which he repeats in summary form himself to Zedekiah. The report is thus an “unedited” first person report. This may create some confusion for some readers, but it is best to leave it in first person here because of the continuation in vv. 12, 16.

² sn The yoke is a common biblical symbol of political servitude (see, e.g., Deut 28:48; 1 Kgs 12:4, 9, 10). From the context of 1 Kgs 12 it is clear that it applied to taxation and the provision of conscript labor. In international political contexts it involved the payment of heavy tribute which was often conscripted from the citizens (see, e.g., 2 Kgs 15:19-20; 23:34-35) and the furnishing of military contingents for the sovereign’s armies (see, e.g., 2 Kgs 24:2). Jeremiah’s message here combines both a symbolic action (the wearing of a yoke) and words of explanation as in Jer 19:1-13. (See Isa 20:1-6 for an example outside of Jeremiah.) The casting off of the yoke has been used earlier in Jer 2:20, 5:5 to refer to Israel’s failure to remain spiritually “subject” or faithful to God.