Jeremiah 28:13

“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 

Ps 149:8; Jer 27:15; La 2:14

¹ tn Heb “Hananiah, ‘Thus says the Lord….” The translation uses an indirect quotation here used to eliminate one level of embedded quotation.

² tn The Greek version reads “I have made/put” rather than “you have made/put.” This is the easier reading and is therefore rejected.

³ tn Heb “the yoke bars of wood you have broken, but you have made in its stead yoke bars of iron.”

sn This whole incident (and the preceding one in Jer 28) is symbolic. Jeremiah’s wearing of the yoke was symbolic of the Lord’s message to submit to Babylonian authority. Hananiah’s breaking of the yoke was a prediction that that authority would not last beyond two years. By breaking the yoke he was encouraging rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar’s (and hence the Lord’s) authority (cf. 27:9, 14). However, rebelling would only result in further, harsher, more irresistible measures by Nebuchadnezzar to control such rebellion.