In this chapter, Jeremiah shares the Lord’s message not to listen to the false prophets, for they are liars. Here’s the chapter in its entirety: “This message came to Jeremiah from the Lord early in the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah.
The Lord said to me, “Make a yoke, and fasten it on your neck with leather thongs. Then send messages to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon through their ambassadors to King Zedekiah in Jerusalem. Give them this message for their masters: ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: By my great power I have made the earth and all its people and every animal. I can give these things of mine to anyone I choose. Now I will give your countries to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, who is my servant. I have put everything, even the wild animals, under his control. All the nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until his time is up. But then many nations and great kings will conquer and rule over Babylon. So you must submit to Babylon’s king and serve him; put your neck under Babylon’s yoke! I will punish any nation that refuses to be his slave, says the Lord. I will send war, famine, and disease upon that nation until Bayblon has conquered it. (Interesting. The Lord had Jeremiah wear an ox yoke to represent submission to Babylon, like an ox submits and is under the control of its master.)
“‘Do not listen to your false prophets, fortune-tellers, interpreters of dreams, mediums, and sorcerers who say, “The king of Babylon will not conquer you.” They are all liars, and I will drive you from your land and send you far away to die. But the people of any nation that submits to the king of Babylon will be allowed to stay in their own country to farm the land as usual. I, the Lord, have spoken!’”
Then I repeated this same message to King Zedekiah of Judah. “If you want to live, submit to the king of Babylon and his people,” I said. “Why do you insist on dying – you and your people? Why should you choose war, famine, and disease, which the Lord will bring against every nation that refuses to submit to Babylon’s king? Do not listen to the false prophets who keep telling you, ‘The king of Babylon will not conquer you.’ They are liars. This is what the Lord says? I have not sent these prophets! They are telling you lies in my name, so I will drive you from this land. You will all die – you and all these prophets, too.”
Then I spoke to the priests and the people and said, “This is what the Lord says: Do not listen to your prophets who claim that soon the gold utensils taken from my Temple will be returned from Babylon. It is all a lie! Do not listen to them. Surrender to the king of Babylon, and you will live. Why should this whole city be destroyed? If they really are the Lord’s prophets, let them pray to the Lord Almighty about the gold utensils that are still left in the Lord’s Temple and in the king’s palace and in the palaces of Jerusalem. Let them pray that these remaining articles will not be carried away with you to Babylon!
For this is what the Lord Almighty says about the bronze pillars in front of the Temple, the bronze Sea in the Temple courtyard, the bronze water carts, and all the other ceremonial articles. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon left them here when he exiled Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, to Babylon, along with all the other important people of Judah and Jerusalem. Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says about the precious things kept in the Temple and in the palace of Judah’s king: They will all be carried away to Babylon and will stay there until I send for them, says the Lord. But someday I will bring them back to Jerusalem again.” (Jeremiah 27)
Lord, thank you for your Word today! Help us hear your voice! Help us recognize and discern your Spirit within us, and more importantly, listen and take action accordingly. Lord, we love you!
May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
….AND MAY WE ALL PRACTICE THIS WITH ONE ANOTHER.
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