The commentary on Jeremiah 27 discusses the confusion surrounding the dating of Jeremiah's prophecies, originally attributed to the reign of Jehoiakim but more accurately linked to Zedekiah. It highlights the significance of Jeremiah's symbolic act of wearing an ox yoke to convey God's message of submission to Babylonian rule, emphasizing the futility of resistance against Nebuchadnezzar. Additionally, the commentary underscores the role of false prophets and the importance of heeding God's warning against forming alliances that could lead to destruction.

1. JEREMIAH 27 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Judah to Serve Nebuchadnezzar
1. Early in the reign of Zedekiah[a] son of Josiah
king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from
the Lord:
BARNES, "Of Jehoiakim - Really, of Zedekiah, as the Syriac reads (see Jer_27:3).
In the Septuagint the verse is missing. Some scribe has confused the title of this chapter
with that of Jer. 26.
CLARKE, "In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim - It is most evident that
his prophecy was delivered about the fourth year of Zedekiah, and not Jehoiakim, as in
the text. See Jer_28:1. Three of Kennicott’s MSS. (one in the text, a second in the
margin, and the third upon a rasure) have Zedekiah; so likewise have the Syriac and the
Arabic. Houbigant, Lowth, Blayney, Dahler, and others declare for this reading against
that in the present text. And it is clear from the third and twelfth verses, where Zedekiah
is expressly mentioned, that this is the true reading.
GILL, "In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of
Judah,.... This is the same date with the prophecy of the preceding chapter and some
think that this verse should conclude that, as belonging to it; and by which they would
reconcile a difficulty that arises here; the orders for making the yokes being given in the
beginning of Jehoiakim's reign, which yet were to be sent to the messengers of the
neighbouring kings that were come to Zedekiah at Jerusalem, who did not begin to reign
until eleven years after this time; but the word "saying", at the end of the verse, shows it
not to belong to the preceding, but to what follows: others think it is a mistake of the
copy, and that Jehoiakim is put for Zedekiah; and the Syriac and Arabic versions read
Zedekiah; but he was not the son of Josiah, as this king is said to be, but his brother:
others therefore think, that though the prophecy was delivered to Jeremiah, and the
orders were given him to make the bonds and yokes after mentioned, at this time; yet
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2. this prophecy was concealed with him, and the orders were not executed till Zedekiah's
time; or that the prophet, in the beginning of Jehoiakim's reign, made the yokes as he
was ordered, and put one on his neck, to signify the subjection of Judah to the king of
Babylon, which quickly took place, about the third or fourth year of this reign; and that
the rest were sent to the ambassadors of the neighbouring nations in Zedekiah's time;
which latter seems most probable:
came this word unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying; as follows. This verse is
not in the common editions of the Septuagint; but it is in the king of Spain's Bible.
HENRY, "Some difficulty occurs in the date of this prophecy. This word is said to
come to Jeremiah in the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim (Jer_27:1), and yet the
messengers, to whom he is to deliver the badges of servitude, are said (Jer_27:3) to
come to Zedekiah king of Judah, who reigned not till eleven years after the beginning of
Jehoiakim's reign. Some make it an error of the copy, and think that it should be read
(Jer_27:1), In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, for which some negligent scribe,
having his eye on the title of the foregoing chapter, wrote Jehoiakim. And, if one would
admit a mistake any where, it should be here, for Zedekiah is mentioned again (Jer_
27:12), and the next prophecy is dated the same year, and said to be in the beginning of
the reign of Zedekiah, Jer_28:1. Dr. Lightfoot solves it thus: In the beginning of
Jehoiakim's reign Jeremiah is to make these bonds and yokes, and to put them upon his
own neck, in token of Judah's subjection to the king of Babylon, which began at that
time; but he is to send them to the neighbouring kings afterwards in the reign of
Zedekiah, of whose succession to Jehoiakim, and the ambassadors sent to him, mention
is made by way of prediction.
JAMISON, "Jer_27:1-22. The futility of resisting Nebuchadnezzar illustrated to the
ambassadors of the kings, desiring to have the king of Judah confederate with them,
under the type of yokes. Jeremiah exhorts them and Zedekiah to yield.
Jehoiakim — The prophecy that follows was according to this reading given in the
fourth year of Jehoiakim, fifteen years before it was published in the reign of Zedekiah to
whom it refers; it was thus long deposited in the prophet’s bosom, in order that by it he
might be supported under trials in his prophetic career in the interim [Calvin]. But
“Zedekiah” may be the true reading. So the Syriac and Arabic Versions. Jer_27:3, Jer_
27:12; Jer_28:1, confirm this; also, one of Kennicott’s manuscripts. The English Version
reading may have originated from Jer_26:1. “Son of Josiah” applies to Zedekiah as truly
as to “Jehoiakim” or “Eliakim.” The fourth year may, in a general sense here, as in Jer_
28:1, be called “the beginning of his reign,” as it lasted eleven years (2Ki_24:18). It was
not long after the fourth year of his reign that he rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar (Jer_
51:59; Jer_52:3; 2Ki_24:20), in violation of an oath before God (2Ch_36:13).
K&D, "The Yoke of Babylon. - In three sections, connected as to their date and their
matter, Jeremiah prophesies to the nations adjoining Judah (Jer_27:2-11), to King
Zedekiah (Jer_27:12-15), and to the priests and all the people (Jer_27:16-22), that God
has laid on them the yoke of the king of Babylon, and that they ought to humble
themselves under His almighty hand.
According to the (corrected) heading, the prophecy was given in the beginning of the
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3. reign of Zedekiah. If we compare Jer 28 we find the same date: "in that year, at the
beginning of the reign of Zedekiah," more fully defined as the fourth year of his reign.
Graf has made objection, that in the case of a reign of eleven years, one could not well
speak of the fourth year as the beginning of the reign. But the idea of beginning is
relative (cf. Gen_10:10), and does not necessarily coincide with that of the first year. The
reign of Zedekiah is divided into two halves: the first period, or beginning, when he was
elevated by Nebuchadnezzar, and remained subject to him, and the after or last period,
when he had rebelled against his liege lord.
CALVIN, "Jeremiah prefaces this prediction by saying, that it was delivered to him
at the beginning of Jehoiakim’s reign. But this beginning, as we have said, extended
to the whole of his reign while it was prosperous and entire. While, then, Jehoiakim
enjoyed a quiet possession of the kingdom, Jeremiah was bidden to make known
what had been committed to him, not to Jehoiakim himself, but, as we learn from
the third verse, to Zedekiah who had not immediately succeeded him, but became at
last king after various changes. God, then, committed this prophecy to his servant,
but did not design it to be immediately promulgated. If it be asked, why God
designed what he purposed to be made known to be concealed for so long a time?
the answer is this, — that it was done for the sake of the Prophet himself, in order
that he might with more alacrity perform his office, knowing of a certainty that no
one thought that it could ever happen, and certainly the thing was incredible. (177)
God’s design then was to communicate this to his Prophet himself, that he might see
afar off what no one, as I have just said, had thought could ever come to pass. This
is the reason, as I think, why this prophecy was not immediately published, but was
like a treasure deposited in the Prophet’s bosom, until the ripened time came. I shall
defer till tomorrow the explanation of this prophecy.
COFFMAN, "Verse 1
JEREMIAH 27
JEREMIAH WEARS AN OX YOKE
We can hardly believe that no scholar whose works we have had the privilege of
reading has discerned the most important lesson that shines like the sun at
perihelion in such a passage as this. And what is that lesson? It is that all allegations
of certain prophecies being "post eventum", or as having been written after the
events prophesied, are absolutely devastated and destroyed by the behavior of the
prophets who gave the prophecies.
For example, Micah the Morashtite rolled in the dust or the mud; he screamed like
an ostrich and howled like a jackal; Isaiah went naked and barefoot for a period of
two years; and here Jeremiah wears an ox yoke upon his own neck, and did so in the
presence of the King of Judah and his court, including the ambassadors of five
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4. foreign nations! Such bizarre behavior was indulged by these prophets in
connection with their declarations of predictive prophecy.
Basic intelligence makes it impossible to believe that such behavior would have
marked the announcement by some interpolator of an event that had already
occurred. Thus, God proves his own prophecies by such fantastic behavior on the
part of his prophets.
Jeremiah 27:1-3
"In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiachim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came
this word unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah to me: Make
thee bonds and bars, and put them upon thy neck; and send them to the king of
Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the children of Ammon, and to
the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers that came
to Jerusalem unto the king of Judah."
Jeremiah 27:1 here places the events of this chapter in the accession year of
Jehoiachim; but it is evident from Jeremiah 27:3 that Zedekiah was the king during
the events of this chapter. What we have here is some kind of an error; and scholars
usually agree that some ancient copyist accidentally copied the first verse of the
preceding chapter. The Revised Standard Version is evidently correct, which gives
the verse thus: "In the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, king of
Judah, etc."
Such errors are quite rare; and it is fortunate that the subsequent verses of the
chapter enable the necessary correction to be made.
"Make thee bonds and bars ..." (Jeremiah 27:2). These are the elements of an
ancient ox yoke which consisted of two pieces of wood, one to be place above the
neck of the animal, and the other to placed under it, with both pieces held together
by thongs of leather.
"And put them upon thy neck ..." (Jeremiah 27:2). An ox yoke was for two animals;
and thus this contraption made quite a cumbersome and uncomfortable piece of
wearing apparel for Jeremiah. He must have exhibited a startling spectacle at the
court of' the king.
"Send them to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon ..." (Jeremiah
27:3). These were the neighboring kingdoms of Judah; and the presence of
representatives from these kingdoms at this time in Judah was due to the political
intrigue going on at that time against Babylon. There was a strong party in Judah
who still regarded Jehoiachin as the rightful king of Judah and who hoped for his
speedy return. The king of Babylon about the fourth year of Zedekiah's reign had
encountered some opposition at home; and the vassal kingdoms, including Judah,
were trying to form a coalition against Babylon with the hope of regaining their
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5. independence. Jeremiah was divinely inspired to oppose such a foolish maneuver.
"Send them ..." (Jeremiah 27:3). This indicates that five such yokes were to be
made, not counting the one Jeremiah was wearing, and these were indeed sent to
each of the five kings mentioned. Some dispute this; but we cannot interpret "them"
as meaning only one yoke! After all, it would not be much harder to make six yokes
than it would to make only one. If, as some say, only the messages were sent to the
kings, the import of the instruction would have been the same either way.
ELLICOTT, "(1) In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim.—The mention of the
name of Zedekiah as king of Judah in Jeremiah 27:3 shows that the Hebrew text has
here perpetuated an error, due probably to the transcriber or first editor of the
collected prophecies. We have to think, accordingly, of the state of things which
followed on the death of Jehoiakim, and the deposition and exile of Jehoiachin. The
tone of the prophecy seems to indicate a time about the middle of Zedekiah’s reign.
His position was that of a tributary sovereign, subject to Nebuchadnezzar. He and
the neighbouring kings, who were in a like position, had not quite renounced the
hope of throwing off the yoke, and asserting their independence.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 27:1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah
king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Ver. 1. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim.] By the date of this prophecy,
compared with Jeremiah 27:12; Jeremiah 28:1, it should seem that it lay dormant
for fourteen or fifteen years ere it was recited.
COKE, "Introduction
CHAP. XXVII.
Under the type of bonds and yokes, he prophesieth the subduing of the neighbour
kings unto Nebuchadnezzar: he exhorteth them to yield, and not to believe the false
prophets: the like he doeth to Zedekiah: he foretelleth that the remnant of the
vessels shall be carried to Babylon, and there continue until the day of visitation.
Before Christ 598.
THE prophesies contained both in this chapter, and in that which follows next,
belong to the fourth year of Zedekiah's reign. About this time ambassadors came to
Zedekiah from the kings of Edom, Moab, and other neighbouring nations, to solicit
him, as it should seem, to join with them in a confederacy against the king of
Babylon. On this occasion Jeremiah is ordered to put bands and yokes about his
neck, and to send them afterwards to the before-mentioned kings, declaring the
sovereignty of Nebuchadnezzar and his successors to be of divine appointment, and
promising peace and protection to such as submitted quietly, but menacing evil in
case of resistance, Jeremiah 26:1-11. A like admonition is delivered to Zedekiah,
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6. advising him not to expose himself and his people to certain ruin by listening to the
suggestions of false prophets, and revolting from the service of the king of Babylon;
Jeremiah 26:12-15. The priests and all the people are also warned not to give credit
to the false prophets, who taught them to expect a speedy restoration of the vessels,
which had been carried to Babylon together with Jeconiah. Instead of which it is
foretold, that the remaining vessels in the house of God, and in the king's house at
Jerusalem, should be carried after the other, and should not return till the
appointed period of Judah's captivity was at an end; Jeremiah 26:16.—to the end.
Verse 1
Jeremiah 27:1. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim— Of Zedekiah.
Houbigant. There can be no doubt from the 3rd, 12th, and 20th verses, that our
reading is an error. See particularly chap. Jeremiah 28:1.
EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMMENTARY, "HANANIAH
Jeremiah 27:1-22, Jeremiah 28:1-17
"Hear now, Hananiah; Jehovah hath not sent thee, but thou makest this people to
trust in a lie."- Jeremiah 28:15
THE most conspicuous point at issue between Jeremiah and his opponents was
political rather than ecclesiastical. Jeremiah was anxious that Zedekiah should keep
faith with Nebuchadnezzar, and not involve Judah in useless misery by another
hopeless revolt. The prophets preached the popular doctrine of an imminent Divine
intervention to deliver Judah from her oppressors. They devoted themselves to the
easy task of fanning patriotic enthusiasm, till the Jews were ready for any
enterprise, however reckless.
During the opening years of the new reign, Nebuchadnezzar’s recent capture of
Jerusalem and the consequent wholesale deportation were fresh in men’s minds;
fear of the Chaldeans together with the influence of Jeremiah kept the government
from any overt act of rebellion. According Jeremiah 51:59, the king even paid a visit
to Babylon, to do homage to his suzerain.
It was probably in the fourth year of his reign that the tributary Syrian states began
to prepare for a united revolt against Babylon. The Assyrian and Chaldean annals
constantly mention such combinations, which were formed and broken up and
reformed with as much ease and variety as patterns in a kaleidoscope. On the
present occasion the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Zidon sent their
ambassadors to Jerusalem to arange with Zedekiah for concerted action. But there
were more important persons to deal with in that city than Zedekiah. Doubtless the
princes of Judah welcomed the opportunity for a new revolt. But before the
negotiations were very far advanced, Jeremiah heard what was going on. By Divine
command, he made "bands and bars," i.e., yokes, for himself and for the
ambassadors of the allies, or possibly for them to carry home to their masters. They
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7. received their answer not from Zedekiah, but from the true King of Israel, Jehovah
Himself. They had come to solicit armed assistance to deliver them from Babylon;
they were sent back with yokes to wear as a symbol of their entire and helpless
subjection to Nebuchadnezzar. This was the word of Jehovah:-
"The nation and the kingdom that will not put its neck beneath the yoke of the king
of Babylon
That nation will I visit with sword and famine and pestilence until I consume them
by his hand."
The allied kings had been encouraged to revolt by oracles similar to those uttered by
the Jewish prophets in the name of Jehovah; but:-
"As for you, hearken not to your prophets, diviners, dreams, soothsayers and
sorcerers,
When they speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon.
They prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land;
That I should drive you out, and that you should perish.
But the nation that shall bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and
serve him,
That nation will I maintain in their own land (it is the utterance of Jehovah), and
they shall till it and dwell in it."
When he had sent his message to the foreign envoys, Jeremiah addressed an almost
identical admonition to his own king. He bids him submit to the Chaldean yoke,
under the same penalties for disobedience-sword, pestilence, and famine for himself
and his people. He warns him also against delusive promises of the prophets,
especially in the matter of the sacred vessels.
The popular doctrine of the inviolable sanctity of the Temple had sustained a severe
shock when Nebuchadnezzar carried off the sacred vessels to Babylon. It was
inconceivable that Jehovah would patiently submit to so gross an indignity. In
ancient days the Ark had plagued its Philistine captors till they were only too
thankful to be rid of it. Later on a graphic narrative in the Book of Daniel told with
what swift vengeance God punished Belshazzar for his profane use of these very
vessels. So now patriotic prophets were convinced that the golden candlestick, the
bowls and chargers of gold and silver, would soon return in triumph, like the Ark of
old; and their return would be the symbol of the final deliverance of Judah from
Babylon. Naturally the priests above all others would welcome such a prophecy, and
would industriously disseminate it. But Jeremiah spake to the priests and all this
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8. people, saying, Thus saith Jehovah:-
"Hearken not unto the words of your prophets, which prophesy unto you.
Behold, the vessels of the house of Jehovah
Shall be brought back from Babylon now speedily:
For they prophesy a lie unto you."
How could Jehovah grant triumphant deliverance to a carnally minded people who
would not understand His Revelation, and did not discern any essential difference
between Him and Moloch and Baal?
"Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city
become a desolation?"
Possibly, however, even now, the Divine compassion might have spared Jerusalem
the agony and shame of her final siege and captivity. God would not at once restore
what was lost, but He might spare what was still left. Jeremiah could not endorse
the glowing promises of the prophets, but he would unite with them to intercede for
mercy upon the remnant of Israel.
"If they are prophets and the word of Jehovah is with them,
Let them intercede with Jehovah Sabaoth,
That the rest of the vessels of the Temple the Palace,
And the City may not go to Babylon."
The God of Israel was yet ready to welcome any beginning of true repentance. Like
the father of the Prodigal Son, He would meet His people when they were on the
way back to Him. Any stirring of filial penitence would win an instant and gracious
response.
We can scarcely suppose that this appeal by Jeremiah to his brother prophets was
merely sarcastic and denunciatory. Passing circumstances may have brought
Jeremiah into friendly intercourse with some of his opponents; personal contact
may have begotten something of mutual kindliness; and hence there arose a
transient gleam of hope that reconciliation and cooperation might still be possible.
But it was soon evident that the "patriotic" party would not renounce their vain
dreams: Judah must drink the cup of wrath to the dregs: the pillars, the sea, the
bases, the rest of the vessels left in Jerusalem must also be carried to Babylon, and
remain there till Jehovah should visit the Jews and bring them back and restore
them to their own land.
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9. Thus did Jeremiah meet the attempt of the government to organise a Syrian revolt
against Babylon, and thus did he give the lie to the promises of Divine blessing made
by the prophets. In the face of his utterances, it was difficult to maintain the popular
enthusiasm necessary to a successful revolt. In order to neutralise, if possible, the
impression made by Jeremiah, the government put forward one of their prophetic
supporters to deliver a counter blast. The place and the occasion were similar to
those chosen by Jeremiah for his own address to the people and for Baruch’s
reading of the roll-the court of the Temple where the priests and "all the people"
were assembled. Jeremiah himself was there. Possibly it was a feast day. The
incident came to be regarded as of special importance, and a distinct heading is
attached to it, specifying its exact date, "in the same year" as the incidents of the
previous chapter-"in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, in the fourth year, in
the fifth month."
On such an occasion, Jeremiah’s opponents would select as their representative
some striking personality, a man of high reputation for ability and personal
character. Such a man, apparently, they found in Hananiah ben Azzur of Gibeon.
Let us consider for a moment this mouthpiece and champion of a great political and
ecclesiastical party, we might almost say of a National government and a National
Church. He is never mentioned except in chapter 28, but what we read here is
sufficiently characteristic, and receives much light from the other literature of the
period. As Gibeon is assigned to the priests in Joshua 21:17, it has been conjectured
that, like Jeremiah himself, Hananiah was a priest. The special stress laid on the
sacred vessels would be in accordance with this theory.
PETT, "Verse 1
‘In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this
word came to Jeremiah from YHWH, saying,’
The opening heading refers to the commencement of the reign of Jehoiakim. Whilst
it is common practise to suggest that the name of Jehoiakim here in Jeremiah 27:1 is
a scribal error because the remainder of the chapter concerns the reign of Zedekiah,
it is not necessarily so. The heading may be referring to Jeremiah 27:2 alone, with
the initial word that came being that of Jeremiah having to wear on his neck as a
permanent symbol the imitation bonds and yokes described, because it was at this
time that Judah had come under permanent bondage, first to Egypt and then to
Babylon. This would be a continual reminder to Judah of Jeremiah’s message that
their bondage was due to sin, and could over the years have become a recognised
feature of the prophet. The remainder of the chapter can then be seen as describing
how this symbol later came to be used in a special way when, in the reign of
Zedekiah, these instruments, or copies of them, were sent to the kings of various
nations.
This literal interpretation might be seen as supported by the fact that chapter 26
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10. introduces the reign of Jehoiakim, whilst chapter 28 deals with well on into the reign
of Zedekiah. Thus chapter 27 could be seen as intended to be a bridge between the
two, uniting the reign of Jehoiakim with that of Zedekiah by means of the yokes
made by Jeremiah, giving the account a splendid unity. It prevents disjointedness in
the account.
Although not apparent from the English text this is the first mention of Jeremiah in
the form recognised by English texts. Previously it has been Jeremyahu. In chapters
Jeremiah 27:1 to Jeremiah 29:1 it is the shorter form Jeremyah, before reverting
back in chapter Jeremiah 29:27 to Jeremyahu. As this change does not occur just in
headings the reason for it is not immediately apparent. It may perhaps indicate that
Jeremiah 27:1 to Jeremiah 29:23 once existed as a separate unit concerning the yoke
of the King of Babylon.
Verses 1-22
Wearing The Yoke Of Subjection And Dependence (Jeremiah 27:1-22).
At YHWH’s command Jeremiah had to wear a yoke demonstrating bondage. Per
the MT text this commenced at the beginning of Jehoiakim’s reign. This would tie in
with the fact that that reign commenced in bondage to Egypt and continued in
bondage to Babylon. The fact that the prophet of YHWH continually wore the yoke
was an indication that the bondage was YHWH’s will. But it was when nations
began to plot rebellion against Babylon that he was eventually told to send
duplicates of his symbol of submission to many nations who were plotting rebellion
against Babylon. All were to recognise that it was YHWH’s purpose that for the
present they submit to Babylon’s yoke.
PULPIT, "Verses 1-22
EXPOSITION
This and the two following chapters are closely connected. They all relate to the
early part of the reign of Zedekiah, and con-rain warnings arising out of the
deepening gloom of the political horizon. It must, however, be noted that there is
evidently some mistake in the first verse of Jeremiah 27:1-22, and also that the
contents of Jeremiah 29:1-32 point to a somewhat earlier time than Jeremiah
27:1-22; Jeremiah 28:1-17 (viz. the first or second year of King Zedekiah). To
understand the circumstances of Jeremiah 27:1-22; we must remember that
Zedekiah had accepted the throne as the vassal of Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 24:17).
The self-righteousness and formalism of the people, however, would not allow them
to remain quiet under such a humiliation. Deuteronomy, it seemed to them, had
promised success and prosperity to an obedient performance of the Law, and the
priests and the prophets assured them that these conditions had been complied with.
In the fourth year of Zedekiah (comp. Jeremiah 28:1) the popular discontent was
still further stimulated by the presence of ambassadors from the neighboring
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11. nations, who had come to organize a common movement against the common
enemy. Jeremiah believed that he could not give more forcible expression to the
Divine warnings of which he was the bearer than by a symbolic act akin to that
related of Isaiah in Isaiah 20:2. He appeared in some public place, where the
ambassadors would be sure to pass, with a yoke upon his neck, and in this strange
guise delivered an impressive exhortation to the foreign visitors. It would appear as
if Jeremiah's exertions on this occasion were successful, so far as Judah was
concerned; for we are informed (Jeremiah 51:59) that, in the fourth year of his
reign, Zedekiah took a journey to Babylon, doubtless to renew his oath of fidelity to
the King of Babylon. It is instructive to compare this chapter as given in the Hebrew
Bible with the form in which it appears in the Septuagint. We must net too hastily
assume that the Greek is incorrect, but examine in each case which form gives most
force and expressiveness to the prophecy.
Jeremiah 27:1
In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim. The Syriao substitutes for, "Jehoiakim"
"Zedekiah," to bring the passage into conformity with Jeremiah 28:1, where the
fourth year of the reign of Zedekiah is expressly mentioned. But is this emendation
sufficient? Can the fourth year be called the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah,"
When that reign lasted altogether only eleven years? Is it not probable that the
transcriber has inadvertently copied the heading of Jeremiah 26:1-24, which
corresponds verbally with Jeremiah 27:1, except that "unto Jeremiah" is wanting?
2 This is what the Lord said to me: “Make a yoke
out of straps and crossbars and put it on your
neck.
BARNES, "Yokes - Two curved pieces of wood, the one put over the neck of the ox,
the other under, and then fastened together by bonds or cords (compare Psa_2:3).
Compare the marginal references.
CLARKE, "Make thee bonds and yokes - Probably yokes with straps, by which
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12. they were attached to the neck. This was a symbolical action, to show that the several
kings mentioned below should be brought under the dominion of the Chaldeans.
GILL, "Thus saith the Lord to me, make thee bonds and yokes,.... The yokes
were made of wood, as appears from Jer_28:13; and the bonds were strings or thongs,
which bound the yoke together, that it might not slip off the neck, on which it was put:
and put them upon thy neck; not all of them together, but one after another, at
different times; and this was very significant; for the prophet being seen abroad with a
yoke upon his neck, it would be natural to inquire the meaning of it; when they would be
told it was to signify the subjection of Judah, and so of other nations, to the king of
Babylon; and that he did wear at times such a yoke, even fifteen years after, in the fourth
of Zedekiah's reign, appears from Jer_28:1.
HENRY, " Jeremiah is to prepare a sign of the general reduction of all these countries
into subjection to the king of Babylon (Jer_27:2): Make thee bonds and yokes, yokes
with bonds to fasten them, that the beast may not slip his neck out of the yoke. Into
these the prophet must put his own neck to make them taken notice of as a prophetic
representation; for every one would enquire, What is the meaning of Jeremiah's yokes?
We find him with one on, Jer_28:10. Hereby he intimated that he advised them to
nothing but what he was resolved to do himself; for he was not one of those that bind
heavy burdens on others, which they themselves will not touch with one of their fingers.
Ministers must thus lay themselves under the weight and obligation of what they preach
to others.
JAMISON, "bonds — by which the yoke is made fast to the neck (Jer_5:5).
yokes — literally, the carved piece of wood attached at both ends to the two yokes on
the necks of a pair of oxen, so as to connect them. Here the yoke itself. The plural is
used, as he was to wear one himself, and give the others to the ambassadors; (Jer_27:3;
Jer_28:10, Jer_28:12) proves that the symbolical act was in this instance (though not in
others, Jer_25:15) actually done (compare Isa_20:2, etc.; Eze_12:3, Eze_12:11, Eze_
12:18).
K&D 2-8, "The yoke of the king of Babylon upon the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon,
Tyre, and Sidon. - Jer_27:2. "Thus said Jahveh to me: Make thee bonds and yokes, and
put them upon thy neck, Jer_27:3. And send them to the king of Edom, the king of
Moab, the king of the sons of Ammon, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon, by the
hand of the messengers that are come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. Jer_
27:4. And command them to say unto their masters, Thus hath Jahveh of hosts, the God
of Israel, said: Thus shall ye say unto your masters: Jer_27:5. I have made the earth,
the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my
outstretched hand, and give it to whom it seemeth meet unto me. Jer_27:6. And how
have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my
servant; and the beasts of the field also have I given him to serve him. Jer_27:7. And all
nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the time of his land come,
12

13. and many nations and great kings serve themselves of him. Jer_27:8. And the people
and the kingdom that will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that
will not put its neck into the yoke of the king of Babylon, with sword, with famine, and
with pestilence I will visit that people, until I have made an end of them by his hand.
Jer_27:9. And ye, hearken not to your prophets, and your soothsayers, and to your
dreams, to your enchanters and your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying: Ye shall
not serve the king of Babylon. Jer_27:10. For they prophesy a lie unto you, that I should
remove you far from your land, and that I should drive you out and ye should perish.
Jer_27:11. But the people that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon
and will serve him, that will I let remain in its land, saith Jahveh, to till it and to dwell
therein."
The yoke Jeremiah is to make and lay on his neck is a plain emblem of the Babylonian
yoke the nations are to bear. The words "bonds and yokes" denote together one yoke.
‫ת‬ ‫ֹט‬‫מ‬ are the two wooden beams or poles of the yoke, which were fastened together by
means of the ‫ת‬ ‫ר‬ ֵ‫ס‬ ‫,מ‬ bonds, ropes, so that the yoke might be laid on the beast's neck; cf.
Lev_26:13. That Jeremiah really put such a yoke on his neck and wore it, we see from
Jer_28:10, Jer_28:12, where a false prophet breaks it for him. He is to send the yoke to
the kings of Edom, Moab, etc., by means of envoys of those kings, who were come to
Jerusalem to Zedekiah. And since Jeremiah laid a yoke on his own neck, and so carried
out the commanded symbolical action in objective reality, there is no reason to doubt
that he made yokes for the five kings named and gave them to their respective envoys.
Chr. B. Mich., Hitz., Graf, hold this to be improbable, and suppose that Jeremiah only
made a yoke for himself and put it on his neck; but by appearing abroad with it, he set
before the eyes of the ambassadors, the yoke that was to be laid on their kings, and, in a
certain sense, emblematically gave it to them. But even though this might have sufficed
to accomplish the aim of the prophecy, it is difficulty to reconcile it with the wording of
the text; hence Hitz. seeks arbitrarily to change ‫ם‬ ָ‫תּ‬ ְ‫ח‬ַ‫לּ‬ ִ‫שׁ‬ into ‫ה‬ ָ‫תּ‬ ְ‫ח‬ַ‫לּ‬ ִ‫.שׁ‬ And it is a
worthless argument that Jeremiah cannot possibly have believed that the envoys would
carry the yokes with them and deliver them to their masters. Why should not he have
believed they would do so? And if they did not, it was their concern. The plur. "bands
and yokes" may indeed mean a single yoke, but it may also mean many; and the verbs
‫ם‬ ָ‫תּ‬ ַ‫ת‬ ְ‫נ‬ and ‫ם‬ ָ‫תּ‬ ְ‫ח‬ַ‫לּ‬ ִ‫,שׁ‬ both with plural suffixes, indicate clearly that he was to make not
merely one yoke for himself, but yokes for himself and the kings. In Jer_28:10 and Jer_
28:12, where one yoke is spoken of, the singular ‫ה‬ ָ‫ט‬ ‫מּ‬ ַ‫ה‬ is used; while, Jer_28:13, "yokes
of wood hast thou broken," does not prove that this plural has the same force as the
singular.
We are not told for what purpose ambassadors from the kings named had come to
Jerusalem; but we can discover what it was from the message Jeremiah gives them for
their lords. From this it appears, without a doubt, that they were come to take counsel as
to a coalition with the view of throwing off the Chaldean supremacy. By God's command
Jeremiah opposes this design with the announcement, that the God of Israel, the Creator
of the world and of all creatures, has given all these lands (those of the kings named in
Jer_27:3) into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar; that men, and even beasts, should serve
him, i.e., that he might exercise unbounded dominion over these lands and all that
belonged to them, cf. Jer_28:14. "My servant," as in Jer_25:9. All nations are to serve
him, his son and his grandson. These words simply express the long duration of the king
of Babylon's power over them, without warranting us in concluding that he was
13

14. succeeded on the throne by his son and his grandson, cf. Deu_6:2; Deu_4:25. For, as we
know, Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son Evil-Merodach; then came his brother-
in-law Neriglissar, who murdered Evil-Merodach, who was followed by his son
Laborosoarchod, a child, murdered after a nine months' reign by conspirators. Of these
latter, Neboned ascended the throne of Babylon; and it was under his reign that the time
for his land came that it should be made subject by many nations and great kings, cf.
Jer_25:14. ‫ַם‬‫גּ‬ ‫הוּא‬ serves to strengthen the suffix on ‫צ‬ ְ‫ר‬ ַ‫;א‬ and the suffix, like ‫,בּ‬ refers
to Nebuchadnezzar.
(Note: Jer_27:7 is wanting in the lxx, and therefore Mov. and Hitz. pronounce it
spurious. But, as Graf remarked, they have no sufficient reason for this, since,
reference being had to Jer_27:16 and to Jer_28:3, Jer_28:11, this verse is very much
in place here. It is not a vaticinium ex eventu, as Hitz. asserts, but was rather
omitted by the lxx, simply because its contents, taken literally, were not in keeping
with the historical facts. The lxx omit also the clause from "that will not serve" to
"king of Babylon and," which is accordingly, and for other subjective reasons of taste,
pronounced spurious by Hitz.; but Graf justly opposes this.)
What is said in Jer_27:6 and Jer_27:7 is made sterner by the threatening of Jer_27:8,
that the Lord will punish with sword, famine, and pestilence the people and kingdom
that will not serve Nebuchadnezzar. ‫ת‬ ֵ‫א‬ ְ‫ו‬ introduces a second relative clause, the ‫ת‬ ֵ‫א‬
being here quite in place, since "the people and the kingdom" are accusatives made to
precede absolutely, and resumed again by the '‫ל‬ַ‫ע‬ ‫י‬ ‫גּ‬ ַ‫ה‬ ‫,ה‬ which belongs directly to the
verb "visit." With ‫י‬ ִ‫מּ‬ ֻ‫ד־תּ‬ַ‫,ע‬ cf. Jer_24:10 and ‫ם‬ ָ‫ת‬ֹ‫א‬ ‫י‬ ִ‫ת‬ ‫לּ‬ַ‫ד־כּ‬ַ‫,ע‬ corresponding in meaning,
in Jer_9:15.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 27:2 Thus saith the LORD to me; Make thee bonds and yokes,
and put them upon thy neck,
Ver. 2. Make thee bonds and yokes,] i.e., Yokes with bonds, such as they are wont to
be fastened with.
And put them upon thy neck.] This was to the prophet, saith the Jesuit, molesta et
probrosa poenitentia, (a) a troublesome and disgraceful penance. But this was no
will worship, say we; and much handsomer than the penances they put the people to
in Italy, where you may see them go along the streets, saith mine author, (b) with a
great rope about their necks, as if they were dropped down from the gallows. And
sometimes they wear a sausage or a swine’s pudding in place of a silver or gold
chain, for a sign of their mortification, and that they may merit.
WHEDON, " 2. Bonds and yokes — The yoke was made of two curved pieces of
wood, placed the one over and the other under the neck of the animal, and fastened
together with cords. See Psalms 2:3.
Put them upon thy neck — In the manner in which they were worn by animals
when used to draw a load. The “yoke,” as here employed, was the appropriate
14

15. symbol of bondage. This command was literally obeyed. See Jeremiah 28:10. Some
hold that Jeremiah obeyed these literally as to himself, but not for the different
kings mentioned. But this does great violence to the text, which is as explicit for one
as the other.
COKE, "Jeremiah 27:2. Make thee bonds and yokes— See ch. Jeremiah 28:10 and
the note on ch. Jeremiah 25:15. The yoke was a pole which went over the shoulders
of a man, and was fastened by bands to the neck: it was used by slaves to carry
burdens, which were suspended at the extremities of the pole; so that it resembled
that which is made use of by milkmen in our metropolis to carry their pails. This
was an information by action, instead of words, says Bishop Warburton, foretelling
the conquers of Nebuchadnezzar over Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon.
PETT, "Verse 2
Jeremiah Was To Make Simulated Yokes And Bonds And Wear Them On His Neck
(Jeremiah 27:2).
The plural of yokes possibly indicates the top and bottom bars of the yoke which
would be bound together round the neck by the ropes (bonds). But if what follows is
taken literally (the sending of yokes to five kings and the retention of the one worn
by Jeremiah) a number of yokes and bonds would be required. They need not have
been the size required for yoking animals. The very sight of even a small yoke would
be sufficient to indicate bondage.
Jeremiah 27:2
“Thus says YHWH to me, Make for yourself bonds and bars, and put them on your
neck,”
YHWH’s call to Jeremiah was initially that he make and wear bonds and yokes
which were to fit on his neck. That he carried it out literally is clear from Jeremiah
28:10. The plural nouns, and what later happens, suggest that he made a number of
sets. His wearing of them (not necessarily continually, but certainly on special
occasions such as the great feasts) was probably intended to be a continual
indication to Judah that it was now under permanent bondage, first to Egypt and
then to Babylon because of its rebellion against YHWH. (YHWH had already
indicated that the death of Josiah would end any guarantee of peace for Judah - 2
Kings 22:20; 2 Kings 23:26-27). It would be typical of Jeremiah to feel that while his
people suffered bondage, he should do the same.
It will be noted that here the command was to wear them, whereas in Jeremiah 27:3
he was to send them to various kings. There is thus an interval between the two acts,
and there is no reason why it should not have been a period of twelve years or more.
Such rapid jumps in the narrative are often made in Scripture causing problems to
modern man who likes to enter into historical detail. But Kings continually presents
15

16. history in this way with huge but unidentified gaps between events during the lives
of the kings. Compare also how Isaiah walked ‘naked and barefoot’ for three years,
possibly wearing only a loincloth, in order to convey a similar message (Isaiah
20:2-3), and how Ezekiel lay on his side for well over a year (Ezekiel 4:4-5).
We are not called on to wear yokes as a symbol of our submission to God, but we
are called on to ‘wear His yoke’ (Matthew 11:28-30) and to walk humbly before
God, revealing that we are true followers of the One Who came, not to be served,
but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).
PULPIT, "Make thee bends and yokes; rather, bands and poles; i.e. the bands
which secured the two pieces of wood placed respectively above and beneath the
neck of the ox, so forming a yoke. Hence, in Le Jeremiah 26:13, we find the phrase,
"the poles [Authorized Version wrongly, 'the bands'] of your yoke." It is clear from
Jeremiah 28:10 that this account is to be taken literally.
3 Then send word to the kings of Edom, Moab,
Ammon, Tyre and Sidon through the envoys who
have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of
Judah.
BARNES, "Come - Or, are come. The ambassadors of these five kings had probably
come to Jerusalem to consult about forming a league to throw off the Babylonian
supremacy. The attempt failed.
GILL, "And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab,
and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king
of Zidon,.... All neighbouring kings and states, to whom the wine cup of God's wrath
was to be sent, and they made to drink of it, Jer_25:21; and against whom Jeremiah
afterwards prophesies:
by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king
of Judah; who were sent by their masters, either to congratulate Zedekiah upon his
16

17. accession to the throne; or to enter into a league with him against the king of Babylon,
and shake off his yoke; or to reside at his court, as ambassadors of nations at peace and
in alliance usually do; and it may be for all those purposes. The yokes therefore are
ordered to be sent to them, as being the most proper and easy way and method of
conveying them, with the meaning of them, to their respective masters.
HENRY 3-11, "He is to send this, with a sermon annexed to it, to all the
neighbouring princes; those are mentioned (Jer_27:3) that lay next to the land of
Canaan. It should seem, there was a treaty of alliance on foot between the king of Judah
and all those other kings. Jerusalem was the place appointed for the treaty. Thither they
all sent their plenipotentiaries; and it was agreed that they should bind themselves in a
league offensive and defensive, to stand by one another, in opposition to the growing
threatening greatness of the king of Babylon, and to reduce his exorbitant power. They
had great confidence in their strength thus united, and were ready to call themselves the
high allies; but, when the envoys were returning to their respective masters with the
ratification of this treaty, Jeremiah gives each of them a yoke to carry to his master, to
signify to him that he must either by consent or by compulsion become a servant to the
king of Babylon, let him choose which he will. In the sermon upon this sign, 1. God
asserts his own indisputable right to dispose of kingdoms as he pleases, Jer_27:5. He is
the Creator of all things; he made the earth at first, established it, and it abides: it is still
the same, though one generation passes away and another comes. He still by a
continued creation produces man and beast upon the ground, and it is by his great
power and outstretched arm. His arm has infinite strength, though it be stretched out.
Upon this account he may give and convey a property and dominion to whomsoever he
pleases. As he hath graciously given the earth to the children of men in general (Psa_
115:16), so he give to each his share of it, be it more or less. Note, Whatever any have of
the good things of this world, it is what God sees fit to give them; we ourselves should
therefore be content, though we have ever so little, and not envy any their share, though
they have ever so much. 2. He publishes a grant of all these countries to
Nebuchadnezzar. Know all men by these presents. Sciant praesentes et futuri - Let those
of the present and those of the future age know. “This is to certify to all whom it may
concern that I have given all these lands, with all the wealth of them, into the hands of
the king of Babylon; even the beasts of the field, whether tame or wild, have I given to
him, parks and pastures; they are all his own.” Nebuchadnezzar was a proud wicked
man, an idolater; and yet God, in his providence, gives him this large dominion, these
vast possessions. Note, The things of this world are not the best things, for God often
gives the largest share of them to bad men, that are rivals with him and rebels against
him. He was a wicked man, and yet what he had he had by divine grant. Note, Dominion
is not founded in grace. Those that have not any colourable title to eternal happiness
may yet have a justifiable title to their temporal good things. Nebuchadnezzar is a very
bad man, and yet God calls him his servant, because he employed him as an instrument
of his providence for the chastising of the nations, and particularly his own people; and
for his service therein he thus liberally repaid him. Those whom God makes use of shall
not lose by him; much more will he be found the bountiful rewarder of all those that
designedly and sincerely serve him. 3. He assures them that they should all be
unavoidably brought under the dominion of the king of Babylon for a time (Jer_27:7):
All nations, all these nations and many others, shall serve him, and his son, and his son's
son. His son was Evil-merodach, and his son's son Belshazzar, in whom his kingdom
ceased: then the time of reckoning with his land came, when the tables were turned, and
17

18. many nations and great kings, incorporated into the empire of the Medes and Persians,
served themselves of him, as before, Jer_25:14. Thus Adonibezek was trampled upon
himself, as he had trampled on other kings. 4. He threatens those with military
execution that stood out and would not submit to the king of Babylon (Jer_27:8): That
nation that will not put their neck under his yoke I will punish with sword and famine,
with one judgment after another, till it is consumed by his hand. Nebuchadnezzar was
very unjust and barbarous in invading the rights and liberties of his neighbours thus,
and forcing them into a subjection to him; yet God had just and holy ends in permitting
him to do so, to punish these nations for their idolatry and gross immoralities. Those
that would not serve the God that made them were justly made to serve their enemies
that sought to ruin them. 5. He shows them the vanity of all the hopes they fed
themselves with, that they should preserve their liberties, Jer_27:9, Jer_27:10. These
nations had their prophets too, that pretended to foretell future events by the stars, or by
dreams, or enchantments; and they, to please their patrons, and because they would
themselves have it so, flattered them with assurances that they should not serve the king
of Babylon. Thus they designed to animate them to a vigorous resistance; and, though
they had no ground for it, they hoped hereby to do them service. But he tells them that it
would prove to their destruction; for by resisting they would provoke the conqueror to
deal severely with them, to remove them, and drive them out into a miserable captivity,
in which they should all be lost and buried in oblivion. Particular prophecies against
these nations that bordered on Israel severally, the ruin of which is here foretold in the
general, we shall meet with, ch. 48 and 49, and Eze. 25, which had the same
accomplishment with this here. Note, When God judges he will overcome. 6. He puts
them in a fair way to prevent their destruction by a quiet and easy submission, Jer_
27:11. The nations that will be content to serve the king of Babylon, and pay him tribute
for seventy years (ten apprenticeships), those will I let remain still in their own land.
Those that will bend shall not break. Perhaps the dominion of the king of Babylon may
bear no harder upon them than that of their own kings had done. It is often more a point
of honour than true wisdom to prefer liberty before life. It is not mentioned to the
disgrace of Issachar that because he saw rest was good, and the land pleasant, that he
might peaceably enjoy it, he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant to
tribute (Gen_49:14, Gen_49:15), as these are here advised to do: Serve the king of
Babylon and you shall till the land and dwell therein. Some would condemn this as the
evidence of a mean spirit, but the prophet recommends it as that of a meek spirit, which
yields to necessity, and by a quiet submission to the hardest turns of Providence makes
the best of bad: it is better to do so than by struggling to make it worse.
- Levius fit patientia
Quicquid corrigere est nefas.
- Hor.
- When we needs must bear,
Enduring patience makes the burden light.
- Creech.
Many might have prevented destroying providences by humbling themselves under
humbling providences. It is better to take up a lighter cross in our way than to pull a
heavier on our own head.
18

19. JAMISON, "And send them to the king of Edom, etc. — Appropriate symbol, as
these ambassadors had come to Jerusalem to consult as to shaking off the yoke of
Nebuchadnezzar. According to Pherecydes in Clement of Alexandria [Miscellanies, 567],
Idanthura, king of the Scythians, intimated to Darius, who had crossed the Danube, that
he would lead an army against him, by sending him, instead of a letter, a mouse, a frog,
a bird, an arrow, and a plough. The task assigned to Jeremiah required great faith, as it
was sure to provoke alike his own countrymen and the foreign ambassadors and their
kings, by a seeming insult, at the very time that all were full of confident hopes grounded
on the confederacy.
K&D, "And command them to say unto their masters,.... The prophet is sent
with authority, and ordered to speak in a very high strain, having his orders from the
King of kings and Lord of lords; a greater master than those messengers had; and to
enjoin them to tell their several masters in his master's name; as follows:
thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; who, though in a peculiar manner
the God of Israel, yet was Lord of the whole world, and had all the armies of heaven and
earth at his command, to enforce his power and authority; wherefore what he says ought
to be attended to:
thus shall ye say to your masters; deliver to them the following words of the great
Jehovah.
CALVIN, "The Prophet seems to have addressed the ambassadors who were sent by
neighboring kings to King Zedekiah; and he was bidden to command them to
declare each to his master, that they were all to come under the yoke of the king of
Babylon. There is, moreover, no doubt but that God designed especially and chiefly
to give a lesson to Zedekiah and to the Jews; for these legations mentioned here
might have so emboldened them as to despise all prophecies, and to think themselves
beyond all danger. For the purpose for which these legations were sent by the king
of Sidon, by the king of Tyrus, by the king of Moab and Ammon, ought to be
particularly observed: when they saw that the king of Babylon would not spare
them, they began to join their forces. Every one at first consulted his own
advantage, and saw no need of mutual help; and so it was that the Chaldeans easily
overcame them while they were disunited. Experience at length taught them, that
neither the king of Judah nor ally of the neighboring kings could sustain the contest
unless they formed a confederacy. Thus, then, it happened that the king of Tyrus,
the king of Sidon, the king of Moab, and the king of Ammon, offered their forces
and their money to the king of Judah, and that he also promised to help them in
return, if the Chaldean attacked them. It was therefore a new occasion for
confidence to the Jews, so that they gathered courage, and thus were emboldened to
resist, relying on so many neighboring kings.
The Chaldeans had been hitherto successful, for they had assailed each by himself;
19

20. but when all of them were ready by their united forces to oppose and restrain their
attacks, it was hardly credible that they could be conquered. It was therefore God’s
purpose to remove this false confidence, and to warn Zedekiah and the whole
people, lest they should be deceived by such allurements, but that they might know
that they were patiently to endure the punishment inflicted on them by God. This
therefore was the reason why the Prophet was sent to the ambassadors who had
come to Jerusalem. He was not set a teacher over them; but this was done with
reference to Zedekiah and the people. It is yet probable that these commands were
set forth before the king, that the king might know that he had been wholly
deceived, and that he still foolishly trusted to the subsidies which had been offered.
We may easily imagine how grievous it must have been to the king and to the people
to hear this prophecy. The ambassadors were in a manner dishonored; the kings, by
whom they had been sent, might have complained that they were treated with great
indignity. Hence the king and the people must have been very incensed against
Jeremiah. But the Prophet boldly performed what God commanded him, as it
behoved him. And we shall hereafter see, that his words were addressed to King
Zedekiah rather than to these heathens.
We now understand the reason why God would have his Prophet to give these
commands to the ambassadors, who had been sent by heathen kings to King
Zedekiah: it was that the king might know that it was wholly useless for these kings
to promise their assistance; for he had to do, not with the Chaldean king, but rather
with the judgment of God, which is irresistible, and which men in vain struggle
with.
ELLICOTT, "(3) And send them to the king of Edom.—The princes that are named
had, as the context shows, sent their ambassadors to Zedekiah, proposing an
alliance against Nebuchadnezzar. They are named in the same order as in the
prophecy of Jeremiah 25:21-22, which had been delivered fifteen years before. The
prophecy then delivered had been in part fulfilled, but these princes were still
struggling against it, encouraged, apparently, by the difficulties which in Media and
elsewhere seemed to delay the complete triumph of the Chaldæan king; and the
prophet is commissioned to tell all of them alike that their efforts are in vain, and
that the supremacy of Babylon was, for the time, part of God’s order, for the
chastisement of the nations. In Jeremiah 49 we have a fuller, and probably later,
development of the same strain of prediction.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 27:3 And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of
Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king
of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah
king of Judah;
Ver. 3. By the hand of the messengers,] i.e., Ambassadors of those neighbouring
states, who might come to Zedekiah, to confederate with him against
Nebuchadnezzar’s growing greatness; but all in vain, and to their own ruin. Deus
20

21. quem destruit dementat. The wicked oft run to meet their bane, as if they were even
ambitious of destruction.
PETT, "Verses 3-11
Jeremiah Was Later Commanded To Send Parallel Yokes To The Plotters Of
Rebellion Whose Ambassadors Were Congregated In Jerusalem (Jeremiah 27:3-11).
The sending of the yokes to related nations, which would be copies of the one worn
by Jeremiah, was to be accompanied by a stern warning from ‘YHWH of Hosts, the
God of Israel’ that they remain in submission to Babylon.
Jeremiah 27:3
“And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of
the children of Ammon, and to the king of Tyre, and to the king of Sidon, by the
hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah,”
The sending of the bonds and yokes to the various kings of the nations clearly
follows after an interval, during which time Jeremiah has been wearing his. This
indicates either that he had made a number of sets which he would wear in turn or
that he had duplicates made for the purpose. They were to be sent to the
Transjordanian nations of Edom, Moab and Ammon, and to Tyre and Sidon,
because it was from them that messengers had come to King Zedekiah, seemingly to
discuss rebellion from the yoke of Babylon. It was YHWH’s warning that they
should not proceed with their aim because it was YHWH’s will that they be so
subjected.
PULPIT, "Jeremiah 27:3
And send them, etc. The letter of the text certainly suggests that Jeremiah actually
delivered a separate yoke to each of the five ambassadors. Some commentators,
however, finding such an act almost incredible, suppose the statement to be
allegorical, and the "sending of the yoke" to mean the declaration of the subjection
of the nations to Nebuchadnezzar which follows, somewhat as in Jeremiah 25:15 the
"causing all the nations to drink "means the utterance of a prophecy of woe to the
various peoples concerned. But we can hardly pronounce upon this passage by itself.
We have to consider whether a whole group of similar statements is or is not to be
taken literally. It may be enough to instance Jeremiah 13:1-7. Which come; rather,
which are come.
4 Give them a message for their masters and say,
21

22. ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of
Israel, says: “Tell this to your masters:
GILL, "And command them to say unto their masters,.... The prophet is sent
with authority, and ordered to speak in a very high strain, having his orders from the
King of kings and Lord of lords; a greater master than those messengers had; and to
enjoin them to tell their several masters in his master's name; as follows:
thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; who, though in a peculiar manner
the God of Israel, yet was Lord of the whole world, and had all the armies of heaven and
earth at his command, to enforce his power and authority; wherefore what he says ought
to be attended to:
thus shall ye say to your masters; deliver to them the following words of the great
Jehovah.
BI 4-5, "have made the earth.
God and the earth
I. God is the creator of all earthly things: “The man and the beast that are upon the
ground.” The earth is not eternal, net the production of chance, not the work of many
Gods. It has one Maker. This agrees with all true science.
II. God is the sovereign disposes of all earthly things. “Have given it unto whom it
seemed meet unto Me.” He might have built it and left it uninhabited, or He might have
populated it with other creatures than those who tenant it now. He has given what He
thinks fit of it to individuals, tribes, and nations. (Homilist.)
The earth made by God
I have in my house a little sheet of paper on which there is a faint, pale, and not
particularly skilful representation of a hyacinth It is not half as beautiful as many other
pictures I have, but I regard it as the most exquisite of them all My mother painted it;
and I never see it that I do not think that her hand rested on it, and that her thought was
concerned in its execution. Now, suppose you had such a conception of God that you
never saw a flower, a tree, a cloud, or any natural object, that you did not instantly think,
“My Father made it,” what a natural world would this become to you! How beautiful
would the earth seem to you! And how would you find that nature was a revelation of
God, speaking as plainly as His written Word! And if you are alone, in solitude, without
company, desolate in your circumstances, it is because you have not that inner sense of
the Divine love and care which it is your privilege to have, and which you ought to have.
(H. W. Beecher.)
22

23. Have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto Me.
Meetness before God
I. God is the proprietor of all.
1. Man’s forgetfulness of this in daily life.
2. The harmony of man’s being requires a sense of dependence.
3. Depression results from stopping short of God.
II. Wisdom and sovereignity go together.
1. No comfort to know we live under an absolute sovereign.
2. God gives not according to seeming fitness. He sees deeper than what seems.
III. The unerring mind of God.
1. Cultivate an adoring spirit.
2. Rest on Him in simple belief.
3. Repose in God’s law of meetness. (P. B. Power, M. A.)
The Divine distribution of the earth amongst men
I. In it He exercises absolute right. The earth, with all its minerals, fruits, productions,
and countless tenants, is His. If He gives a thousand acres to one man and denies a yard
to another, it is not for us to complain.
II. In it He acts according to His own free choice alone. He gives it not on the ground of
merit to any man, for now He gave it to Nebuchadnezzar, one of the worst of men. The
only principle in the distribution is His own sovereignty. What “seemeth meet” to a
Being of Infinite wisdom and goodness must be the wisest and the most benevolent.
Here let us hush all our murmurings, here let us repose the utmost confidence.
Conclusion—The subject teaches us how we should hold that portion of the earth we
possess, however small or great it may be.
1. With profound humility. What we possess is a gift, not a right. We are temporary
trustees, not proprietors. He who holds the most should be the most humble, for he
has the most to account for.
2. With practical thanksgiving. This indeed is all the rent that the Supreme Landlord
requires from us, thanksgiving and praise.
3. With a solemn sense of our responsibility. It is given to us not for our own
gratification and self-aggrandisement, but for the good of the race and the glory of
God.
4. With a conscious dependence on His will. We are all tenants at will. We know not
the moment when He shall see fit to eject us from His land. (Homilist.).
23

24. CALVIN, "Though the Prophet was bidden to command the ambassadors to say to
the kings by whom they had been sent, Thus saith Jehovah, of hosts, (178) they yet
might have refused to do so, and that with indignation: “What! Are we come here to
be ambassadors to thee? and who indeed art thou who commandest us? besides,
dost thou think that we are so mad as to threaten for thy sake, our kings and
masters, and to declare to them what thou biddest, that they are shortly to become
the servants of the Chaldean king?” The ambassadors then might have thus treated
the holy Prophet with derision and laughter: but, as we have said, the whole was
done for the sake of Zedekiah and the people, in order that the Prophet might
dissipate that vain splendor and pomp, by which he saw that Zedekiah and all the
Jews were deceived; for they thought that they had as it were high and large
mountains to be set in opposition to the Chaldean king and his army: “On what part
can they assail us, since the king of Tyrus is on our side, and also the king of Sidon,
the king of Moab, and the king of Ammon? these rule widely, and their cities are
impregnable.” Thus, then, the Jews were convinced that they would be exempt from
every trouble and molestation; but in order that they might not deceive themselves
with that vain display, Jeremiah said,
“Declare, ye ambassadors, to your masters what God has spoken, even that ye must
submit to the yoke of the king of Babylon.”
And a visible symbol was added in order to confirm the prediction: the Prophet was
bidden to put a yoke on his neck, or yokes, for he speaks in the plural number. ‫מוט‬
muth, means a pole, a yoke, a transverse piece of wood: and no doubt he applied
some pieces of wood to his neck, like the yoke laid on oxen; and then he tied this
yoke or crossbar; for ‫,יסר‬ isar, means to bind or tie, and so ‫,מוסרות‬ musarut, are
bands; ‫,מוסר‬ musar, also means sometimes a girdle; but here it is to be taken for
bands or ligaments. It was a sad spectacle to see on the neck of Jeremiah, when he
went forth, the symbol of the bondage of all kings and nations: he was as it were in
the place of all a captive before the time: but when God laid a yoke on the Jews and
on all other nations, Jeremiah was then a free man; for though he bore this mark of
bondage, he yet expected God’s judgment with a resigned mind, while others
disregarded it. But this confirmation rendered them more inexcusable, as the case is,
when God, to strengthen faith, adds sacraments or other helps to his word, by which
means he impresses us the more, for he thus teaches not only our ears, but also our
eyes and all our senses: when God thus omits nothing that may tend to strengthen
our faith in his word, a heavier condemnation awaits us, if such signs avail not.
We then perceive the reason why the Prophet applied to his neck the symbol of
future bondage: were there any teachable among the people, to see such a sign with
their eyes must have been useful to them. But as the greater part had hardened
themselves in their obstinacy, what ought to have done them good, by humbling
them in time before God, so as to anticipate his judgment, had no other effect but to
render their punishment more grievous.
COFFMAN, ""And give them a charge unto their masters, saying, Thus saith
24

25. Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Thus shall ye say unto your masters: I have
made the earth, the men and the beasts that are upon the face of the earth, by my
great power, and by my outstretched arm; and I give it unto whom it seemeth right
unto me. And now have I given all these lands into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar the
king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field also have I given him to
serve him. And all the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until
the time of his own land come: and then many nations and great kings shall make
him their bondman."
The Bible makes it clear indeed that "The Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men,
and giveth it to whomsoever he will" (Daniel 4:25). By divine inspiration, Jeremiah
here made it plain enough that God had given dominion over the world of that
period into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.
This is a staggering thought, especially in view of the truth that very evil men often
prove to be the very ones to whom God gives such vast power and dominion. The
wisdom of Matthew Henry in contemplating this is appropriate.
The things of this world are not the best things, for God often gives the largest
share of them to bad men, men who are rivals of God and rebels against him.
Nebuchadnezzar was a proud, wicked man, but he had world dominion by divine
fight. He was a very bad man, but God called him his servant. If God so uses and
rewards evil men who serve him, however unwittingly, how much more wonderfully
will God reward and honor those who love God and truly serve him![1]
"I have made the earth and the men and the beasts that are upon the face of the
earth ..." (Jeremiah 27:5). God here reveals himself to be not merely the Creator
and Sustainer of all created things, but as their Sovereign Lord and Controller also.
He is the God of history who has his hand firmly upon the progression of the nations
as well. As Paul expressed it, "God made of one every nation of men to dwell on the
earth, having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of their
habitation" (Acts 17:26). Note in this very paragraph, God had appointed a
"season" for the dominion of Babylon, and also that there would be another
"season" when Babylon's time came to be themselves the bondmen of others!
"Him and his son, and his son's son ..." (Jeremiah 27:7). Cheyne declared that this
is not intelligible unless we should understand the "seventy years" of captivity as "a
round number."[2] Cheyne's error was his failure to see that the expression here is,
"a very general one, signifying Nebuchadnezzar and all of his successors until the
whole seventy years expired."[3] Of course, there were other successors to
Nebuchadnezzar during this period. Thus it is not the number seventy which is
"round," but this abbreviation of Nebuchadnezzar's successors.
"Until the time of his own land come ..." (Jeremiah 27:7). Of course, this is the
predictive prophecy of an event to occur many years after the death of Jeremiah;
and the radical critics, following their crazy rule about there being no predictive
25

26. prophecy in the Bible promptly label this verse as a "vatticinium ex eventu".[4] But,
as noted above, if this event had already happened why was it necessary for the
announcer to dress himself up in an ox yoke? Henderson, Keil, Graf, and many
other discerning scholars refuse to allow such ridiculous, high-handed, illogical
misinterpretations of the scriptures.
This predictive prophecy of the end of Babylonian domination and the subjection of
them to others "was fulfilled in the destruction of the Chaldean Empire by Cyrus
and his allies at the termination of the seventy years of Jewish exile in Babylon."[5]
ELLICOTT, "(4) Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel.—As addressed to
the outlying heathen nations, who were not His worshippers, the proclamation of
the message, as coming from Jehovah Sabaoth, the God of Israel, had a special
force, which we hardly appreciate as we read the English. They, with their hosts of
earth, were setting themselves against the Lord of the hosts alike of heaven and of
earth.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 27:4 And command them to say unto their masters, Thus saith
the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say unto your masters;
Ver. 4. Go, tell your masters.] But they would not be warned, and were therefore
ruined. So true is that of an ancient, Divinum consilium, dam devitatur, impletur:
humana sapicuria, dum reluctatur, comprehendirut.
WHEDON, "4. Command them to say unto their masters, etc. — Here is a specimen
of a missionary message of the olden time. God causes his prophet to deliver a
message in which his universal creatorship, his unity, and his supremacy are most
plainly asserted. He brings to view his universal providence, extending not only to
his own chosen people but to all the nations. He intimates that even
Nebuchadnezzar, the eminent representative heathen king, rules by the appointment
of God, and that his own divine resources would be brought to bear to perpetuate
his authority. And yet he does not close without the intimation that Babylon, in its
turn, shall become subject.
PETT, "Jeremiah 27:4
“And give them a charge to their masters, saying, Thus says YHWH of hosts, the
God of Israel, Thus shall you say to your masters,”
Along with the bonds and yokes Jeremiah sent a charge to the various kings from
YHWH. It was headed with the full title of ‘YHWH of Hosts, the God of Israel’,
which always indicated an important saying and was a reminder that He was Lord
of all hosts, whether the angelic hosts in Heaven or the human hosts on earth, the
‘hosts of Heaven’ which represented the stars in their courses, and indeed of all
creation (Genesis 2:1).
26

27. 5 With my great power and outstretched arm I
made the earth and its people and the animals
that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please.
CLARKE, "I have made the earth - I am the Creator and Governor of all things,
and I dispose of the several kingdoms of the world as seemeth best to me.
GILL, "I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the
ground,.... The earth was made by him on the first day, and man and beast on the sixth
day, of the creation; the earth is still supported in its being, and man and beast are
continued on it in succession: this is mentioned to show his right and authority to
dispose of the earth, and all in it, at his pleasure; which is founded on his creation and
sustaining of it, and all creatures in it: which was, and is, as he says,
by my great power, and by my outstretched arm; for nothing less could have
created the original chaos out of nothing, and brought that into form and order, and
produced out of it such creatures as man and beast; and nothing less than that could
continue it in being, and a succession of creatures on it:
and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me; some part of it to one,
and some to another; and more to one than to another; but to none according to their
merit, but according to his own sovereign will and pleasure; see Psa_115:16.
JAMISON, "God here, as elsewhere, connects with the symbol doctrine, which is as it
were its soul, without which it would be not only cold and frivolous, but even dead
[Calvin]. God’s mention of His supreme power is in order to refute the pride of those
who rely on their own power (Isa_45:12).
given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me — (Psa_115:15, Psa_115:16; Dan_
4:17, Dan_4:25, Dan_4:32). Not for his merits, but of My own sole good pleasure
[Estius].
CALVIN, "Then follow these words, I have made the earth, the man and the beast,
which are on the face of the earth, by my great power, and by mine extended arm.
27

28. (179) The spectacle would have been unmeaning and to no purpose, had Jeremiah
only put the yoke on his neck, and added no instruction; for we know that all signs
are as it were dead, except life is given them by the word. As then an image avails
not much, so whatever signs may be set before our eyes, they would be frivolous and
without meaning, were no doctrine added as the life. And hence also is condemned
the madness of the Papists, who amuse the minds of the people with many signs,
while no doctrine is conveyed. It therefore follows that they are mere figments, and
attended with no profit. God, then, has ever added to signs his doctrine, which may
therefore be truly compared to the soul, which gives life to the body, that would
otherwise be without motion or strength. On this account Jeremiah shews what the
yoke meant. He also speaks of the power and sovereign authority of God; for kings,
though they confess that God holds the government of the world, cannot yet
entertain the idea that they can be in a moment overwhelmed and cast down from
their dignity. For they seem to themselves to be fixed in their nests, and so they
promise to themselves a permanent condition, and imagine that they are not subject
to the common lot of mortals.
As, then, kings are so inflated with pride, the Lord used this preface, that he made
the earth and all living beings. He speaks not of heaven, but mentions only that he
made the earth, and man, and the animals which are on the face of the earth; and
adds, by my great power and extended arm Why was this said, except that men
might be awakened on hearing that the earth continues not as it is, but as it is
sustained by God’s power by which it was once created? The same power preserves
men and animals; for nothing can remain safe except God exercises from heaven his
hidden power. This, then, was the reason why these words were introduced. God set
his own arm and power in opposition to the pride of those who thought that they
stood by their own power, and did not acknowledge that they were dependent on the
nod of God alone, who sustained them as long as he pleased, and then overthrew
and reduced them to nothing when it seemed good to him.
This doctrine, then, ought to be applied to ourselves: for Jeremiah did not speak
generally and indiscriminately of God’s power, but accommodated to the subject in
hand what he said of God’s power, that men might, know that there is nothing fixed
or permanent in this world, but that God preserves men and animals, and yet in
such a way, that at any moment he can by a single breath reduce to nothing all those
who exist and all that they have. It follows —
ELLICOTT, "(5) I have made the earth . . .—The pronoun is emphatic. For “upon
the ground” read on the face of the earth, and for “it seemed meet unto me” it
seemed meet to my eyes. The “stretched-out arm” is a phrase specially characteristic
of the Book of Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 4:34; Deuteronomy 5:15; Deuteronomy
7:19; Deuteronomy 26:8), and may be noted among the many traces of its influence
on Jeremiah’s language. The whole preface, which rises to a height of rhythmic
loftiness not common in Jeremiah’s writings, asserts the truth that the Creator of
the material world is also the ruler over the kingdoms of the earth. For a like
utterance of the same thought, see Amos 4:13; Amos 9:6.
28

29. TRAPP, "Jeremiah 27:5 I have made the earth, the man and the beast that [are]
upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it
unto whom it seemed meet unto me.
Ver. 5. I have made the earth.] And I am therefore the great proprietary and Lord
paramount of all, to transfer kingdoms at my pleasure. This Nebuchadnczzar, after
seven years’ apprenticeship served among the beasts of the field, had learned to
acknowledge. [Daniel 4:23-25]
PETT, "Jeremiah 27:5
“I have made the earth, the men and the beasts which are on the face of the earth,
by my great power and by my outstretched arm; and I give it to whom it seems right
to me.”
YHWH first indicates His credentials as the Creator of all things, and indicates the
authority that it gives Him to order things as He will. He makes clear that all living
things are under His control, whether they be men or beast, because He created
them all by His great power and ‘His outstretched arm’. The latter is simply a
metaphor demonstrating His capability in doing things which require strength. He
does not literally do things by means of a huge arm. Compare Deuteronomy 4:34;
Deuteronomy 5:15; Deuteronomy 7:19; Deuteronomy 26:8. Thus the situation in
which they find themselves is because it ‘seems right to Him’. Rebellion would
therefore be to act against God’s purpose. Notice how creation is summed up in
terms of ‘men and beasts’ as the two primary life forms.
PULPIT, "Jeremiah 27:5, Jeremiah 27:6
Jehovah is the Creator and Proprietor of the earth and all that is therein. Therefore
he can give any part of it to whomsoever he will. Therefore, Jeremiah being his
trustworthy prophet, the kings are called upon to take notice that Jehovah has
transferred their kingdoms to Nebuchadnezzar. Observe, in Jeremiah 27-29. the
form employed is not "Nebuchadnezzar," but "Nebuchadnezzar" (so also Jeremiah
34:1; Jeremiah 39:5). (See on Jeremiah 21:7.)
6 Now I will give all your countries into the hands
of my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; I
will make even the wild animals subject to him.
29

30. CLARKE, "And now have I given - These kingdoms are at my sovereign disposal;
and at present, for the punishment of their rulers and people, I shall give them into the
hands of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.
GILL, "And now I have given all these lands,.... Before mentioned; of Edom,
Moab, Ammon, Tyre, Zidon, and Judea:
into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; whom God
used as an instrument in correcting and chastising the nations; and who obeyed his will,
though he knew it not; nor did what he did in obedience to it; and yet had the honour of
being called his servant, and of being rewarded with a very large empire; which was
owing, not so much to his prowess and valour, wisdom and management, as to the
providence of God; who delivered the above kingdoms, with others, into his hands, as
being the sole proprietor and sovereign disposer of them:
and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him; either to bring
him, and his armies, and his carriages of provisions for them, and warlike stores, for the
invasion and taking the above countries; or the cattle found there, which belonged to
these countries, and the inhabitants thereof, which would fall into his hands with them.
JAMISON, "beasts of the field — not merely the horses to carry his Chaldean
soldiers, and oxen to draw his provisions [Grotius]; not merely the deserts, mountains,
and woods, the haunts of wild beasts, implying his unlimited extent of empire [Estius];
but the beasts themselves by a mysterious instinct of nature. A reproof to men that they
did not recognize God’s will, which the very beasts acknowledged (compare Isa_1:3). As
the beasts are to submit to Christ, the Restorer of the dominion over nature, lost by the
first Adam (compare Gen_1:28; Gen_2:19, Gen_2:20; Psa_8:6-8), so they were
appointed to submit to Nebuchadnezzar, the representative of the world power and
prefigurer of Antichrist; this universal power was suffered to be held by him to show the
unfitness of any to wield it “until He come whose right it is” (Eze_21:27).
CALVIN, "God, after having claimed to himself the government of the whole earth,
and shewn that it is in his power to transfer kingdoms to whom he pleases, now
declares his decree — that he would subject to the king of Babylon all the
neighboring lands, even Tyrus and Sidon, the country of Moab, the country of
Ammon, the country of Edom, and even Judea itself. If Jeremiah had begun by
saying, that God had given to King Nebuchadnezzar these lands, the prediction
would not have been so easily received, for pride would have been as it were an
obstacle to bolt up their minds and hearts. But the preface, as it has been stated,
served to shew that they were not to think that they could stand against the will of
30

31. God. After having then brought down the great height which seemed fixed in their
hearts, he now declares that King Nebuchadnezzar would be the lord over Judah as
well as over all the countries around, for God had set him over these lands.
He extends also this subjection, of which he speaks, over the very beasts, and not
without reason; for he thus indirectly condemns the hardness of men, if they
resisted, as though he had said, “What will it avail you to attempt with refractory
hearts to shake off the yoke? for the very beasts, tigers, wolves, lions, and every
fierce and savage animal in the land, even all these beasts shall know that the King
Nebuchadnezzar is their master, even by a hidden instinct. Since, then, these beasts
shall obey King Nebuchadnezzar, because he has been raised by God to that dignity,
how great must be the stupidity of men in not acknowledging what the very beasts
understand?” We hence see the design of mentioning the beasts; the Prophet
upbraided men with their madness, if they ferociously resisted the King
Nebuchadnezzar; for in that, case the beasts of the field were endued with more
intelligence than they. For whence is it that beasts have fear, except that God has
imprinted certain marks of dignity on kings, according to what is said by Daniel.
(Daniel 2:38.) As, then, the majesty of God appears in kings, the very beasts, though
void of reason and judgment, yet willingly obey through a hidden impulse of nature.
Hence inexcusable is the pride of men, if at least they do not imitate the example of
the very beasts. (180)
Nebuchadnezzar is afterwards called the servant of God, not that he was worthy of
such an honor, as it had never been his purpose to labor for God; but he was called
a servant, because God designed to employ him in his service, as those are called in
the Psalm the sons of God, to whom the word of God was addressed, that is, to
whom he gave authority to rule. (Psalms 82:6; John 10:35.) So also Nebuchadnezzar
was God’s servant, because he was divinely endued with sovereign power. This he
did not know, nor was this said for his sake, nor was he honored with such a name,
as though God regarded him as one of his own people; but this had a reference to
the Jews and to all the other nations, in order that they might be fully persuaded
that they were obeying God in humbling themselves and in undertaking the yoke of
the king of Babylon, for this pleased God. There is no power, says Paul, but from
God, (Romans 13:1,) and that sentence is derived from this principle, that all power
is from God; for he gives the power to rule and to govern to whom he pleases.
Whosoever, then, are endued with the power of the sword and public authority, are
God’s servants, though they exercise tyranny and be robbers. They are servants, not
with respect to themselves, but because God would have them to be acknowledged
as his ministers until their time shall come, according to what follows —
ELLICOTT, "(6) Nebuchadnezzar . . . my servant.—See Note on Jeremiah 25:9 for
the title thus given. The special stress laid on “the beasts of the field” is, perhaps,
connected with the resistance of the nations to the levies made by the Babylonian
officers upon their horses and cattle, or their claim to use the land they had
subdued, after the manner which we see depicted on Assyrian sculptures, as a
hunting-ground. Compare especially the account of Tiglath-Pileser I.’s hunting
31

32. expedition in Records of the Past, xi., p. 9.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 27:6 And now have I given all these lands into the hand of
Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I
given him also to serve him.
Ver. 6. And now have I given all these lands.] Nebuchadnezzar shall be monarch
contra Gentes. Dicunt nugatores equitasse Nabuchodonosor super leonem, et
infraenasse draconem. (a)
PETT, "Jeremiah 27:6-7
“And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of
Babylon, my servant, and the beasts of the field also have I given him to serve him.
And all the nations will serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the time of
his own land come, and then many nations and great kings will make him their
bondman.”
He then particularises what He is saying to the particular case in hand. With regard
to the lands which are ruled over by these kings He has chosen by His sovereign
power to give them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar (no longer Nebuchadrezzar)
who is His servant, and He has given him all animals both wild and domestic in
order that they might serve him. Furthermore it was His purpose that all nations
should serve both ‘Nebuchadnezzar, and his son, and his son’s son’, that is his
regular heirs, into the future until the appointed time. And this will go on until
arrival of the time limit that YHWH has set, when Nebuchadnezzar’s own land will
arrive at ‘its time’ and will in turn serve others. For then many nations and great
kings will eventually arise who will in turn bring Babylonia into bondage.
The reference to animals wild and domestic, included along with the lands,
indicating all created things within the area, but may well also have in mind the
requirements laid on subject peoples that they provide him regularly with horses
and cattle and submit to the Babylonians using their lands for hunting, a favourite
sport of great kings which was not necessarily good for the land. The reference to
‘his son and his son’s son’ is not putting a limit on how many kings there will be, nor
is it in fact saying that they will be directly related. A king’s heir would always be
seen as his ‘son’ (we can compare how the Assyrians called all Israelite kings ‘sons
of Omri’ long after there was no such relationship. Thus Jehu was described as ‘the
son of Omri’ on Assyrian inscriptions). Basically therefore it indicated all his heirs,
whether literal sons or otherwise, until the time appointed (compare Exodus 34:7;
Deuteronomy 4:25). Nebuchadnezzar was in fact succeeded by his son Evil-
merodach (Amel-marduk) (Jeremiah 52:31), and he by Nebuchadnezzar’s son-in-
law Neriglissar (Nergal-shar-usur who married Nebuchanezzars’s daughter),
followed briefly by his son Labashi-marduk. Labashi-marduk did not last long and
was assassinated in childhood and replaced by Nabonidus and his son Belshazzar
(although Belshazzar died before Nabonidus) who would be subjugated by Cyrus
32

33. the Persian, with his allies.
‘Nebuchadnezzar.’ The change from Nebuchadrezzar (Nabu-kudurri-usur) to
Nebuchadnezzar probably has no special significance. Baruch had input into both
sections so that it is not necessarily an indication of change of authorship. The
change from ‘r’ to ‘n’ is quite common when transliterating from Akkadian into
Hebrew. It may simply indicate Jeremiah’s own development to a more
sophisticated style.
7 All nations will serve him and his son and his
grandson until the time for his land comes; then
many nations and great kings will subjugate him.
BARNES, "His son, and his son’s son - Evil-Merodach and Nabonadius (see
Dan_5:1 note).
Shall serve themselves of him - See the marginal reference. After long servitude
to the Persian and Median kings, the Selucidae ruined the remains of Babylon.
CLARKE, "And all nations shall serve him (Nebuchadnezzar), and his son,
(Evil-merodach Jer_52:31), and his son’s son, (Belshazzar, Dan_5:11.) All which was
literally fulfilled.
GILL, "And all nations shall serve him,.... That is, all those, all above mentioned;
though there were others also that were tributary to him, but not every nation under
heaven:
and his son, and his son's son; their Scripture names were Evilmerodach and
Belshazzar, Jer_52:31; and by Ptolemy, in his canon, are called Iloarudamus and
Nabonadius; between whom he places Niricassolassarus, or Neriglissarus; who was not a
son of Evilmerodach, but his sister's husband. A son of his succeeded him, called
Laborosoarchod; who, reigning but nine months, is not placed in the canon; agreeably to
which is the account of Berosus (h); by whom the immediate son of Nebuchadnezzar is
named Evilmaradouchus; or Evilmalaurouchus, as in Eusebius (i); who, after he had
reigned two years, was slain by Neriglissoor, or Neriglissar, as in the above writer, his
sister's husband; who, after he had enjoyed the kingdom four years, died, and left it to
his son, whom he calls Chabaessoarachus, or Laborosoarchados, as before, who reigned
but nine months; and then Nabonnidus succeeded, the name he gives him who was
33

34. conquered by Cyrus in the seventeenth year of his reign; and not very different is the
account of Nebuchadnezzar's successors, and the names of them, as given by Abydenus,
out of Megasthenes (k); according to whom, Evilmalaurouchus, the son of
Nebuchadnezzar, was his successor; then Neriglissar, his sister's husband, who left a son
called Labassoarascus; and after him Nabannidochus, in whose times Cyrus took
Babylon; and who appears to be the same with Belshazzar, the grandson of
Nebuchadnezzar; so that the Scripture is very just and accurate in mentioning these two
only as the son, and son's son of Nebuchadnezzar, whom the nations should serve; for in
the last of these ended the Babylonish monarchy:
until the very time of his land come; or that "itself; also he himself" (l) or, "also of
himself", as the Vulgate Latin version. The Targum is,
"until the time of the destruction of his land come, also of himself;''
there was a time fixed for his life, and so long the nations were to serve, and did serve,
him personally; and there was a time fixed for the continuance of his monarchy, in his
son, and son's son; when it was to end, as it did, in Belshazzar's reign; and when the
seventy years' captivity of the Jews was up:
and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him; and his
kingdom; subdue it, and make it tributary to them. This was accomplished by the Medes
and Persians, with Darius and Cyrus at the head of them, and other nations and kings,
allies and auxiliaries to them, and associates with them; see Jer_25:14. The Vulgate
Latin version renders it, "and many nations and great kings shall serve him"; so the
Targum; which falls in with the former part of the verse; wherefore the other sense is
best.
JAMISON, "son ... son’s son — (2Ch_36:20). Nebuchadnezzar had four
successors - Evil-merodach, his son; Neriglissar, husband of Nebuchadnezzar’s
daughter; his son, Labosodarchod; and Naboned (with whom his son, Belshazzar, was
joint king), son of Evil-merodach. But Neriglissar and Labosodarchod were not in the
direct male line; so that the prophecy held good to “his son and his son’s son,” and the
intermediate two are omitted.
time of his land — that is, of its subjugation or its being “visited” in wrath (Jer_
27:22; Jer_25:12; Jer_29:10; Jer_50:27; Dan_5:26).
serve themselves of him — make him their servant (Jer_25:14; Isa_13:22). So “his
day” for the destined day of his calamity (Job_18:20).
CALVIN, "Serve him shall all nations, and his son, and the son of his son The
greater part think that Nebuchadnezzar had only two successors of his own
posterity, Evil-merodach and Belshazar; others name five, and two of them between
Evil-merodach and Belshazar. Those who think that there were no more than three,
quote this testimony of the Prophet, for he names only the king’s son and his
grandson; but this would be no sufficient reason. I am, however, disposed to follow
what has been more commonly received, that Belshazar, the last king of Babylon,
who was slain by Cyrus, was the third from Nebuchadnezzar. (181)
34

35. But this is not the main thing; for the Prophet speaks of the time of the Chaldean
monarchy as well as of the king, until the time of his land shall come. The time of the
land was that determined by heaven; for as to every one of us there is a limit fixed
beyond which no one can pass, so we ought to judge of kingdoms. As, then, the life
of every individual has its fixed limits, so God has determined with regard to the
empires of the whole earth; thus the life and death of every kingdom and nation are
in the hand and at the will of God. For this reason it is now said, that the time of
Chaldea would come, and then it is added, and of the king himself. (182) This ought
not to be confined to Nebuchadnezzar himself; but as his grandson represented him,
the time, though not strictly, may yet be aptly said to have been that, when God had
put an end to him and to his power when Babylon was taken by the Medes and
Persians. This was, however, at the same time for the comfort of the godly; for it was
not God’s design to leave the faithful without some alleviation in their trouble, lest
grief should overpower them; when they found themselves oppressed by the
Chaldeans, and in a manner overwhelmed, doubtless despair might have crept in,
and hence murmurings and blasphemies might have followed. It was, therefore,
God’s purpose to mitigate in some measure their bitterness when he added, that the
time of Nebuchadnezzar himself would come, that is, the time in which he was to
perish. When, therefore, the faithful saw him taking possession of all lands, and
dreaded by all nations, they were not to despond, but rather to extend their
thoughts to that time of which Jeremiah had predicted, that they might receive some
alleviation to their grief, and be enabled to bear with more resignation the cross laid
on them. In this expression, then, is included a promise; for the hope of deliverance
was set before them, when they understood that reverses would soon happen to
King Nebuchadnezzar.
He afterwards adds, serve him shall great, or many nations (for the word ‫,רבים‬
rebim, means both) and great kings (183) This was distinctly expressed, that no
conspiracy might deceive the Jews and other nations; for they thought that when
united together they could offer an effectual resistance: “Accumulate your forces
and your efforts,” says God; “yet all these shall be dissipated; for my decree is, that
great kings and many nations shall serve the Chaldeans.” It follows —
ELLICOTT, " (7) And his son, and his son’s son.—The words may have had the
meaning that this was to be the farthest limit of Nebuchadnezzar’s dynasty, as
defined by the “seventy years” of Jeremiah 25:11. The use of the phrase, however, in
Exodus 34:7, Deuteronomy 4:25, points rather to an undefined prolongation, subject
only to the fact that there was an appointed limit. Historically we may note the fact
that Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son, Evil-merodach (Jeremiah 52:31); he
by his brother-in-law, Neriglissar, and he by Nabouahid and his son Belshazzar.
(See Introduction.)
Shall serve themselves of him.—Better, shall make him to serve. It lies in the nature
of the case that the pronoun refers to the King of Babylon for the time being. The
confederacy of nations which shall overthrow the Babylonian monarchy, Medes and
others, is described more fully in Jeremiah 51:11; Jeremiah 51:27-28. The words
35

36. were clearly meant to point both ways. They warn the nations not to resist the
Chaldæan king then. They warn the king not to think that he is founding a dynasty
of long duration. The whole verse is wanting in the LXX., perhaps because they
imagined that the “son’s son” of Jeremiah 27:7 was inconsistent with the facts of
history, as they read them.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 27:7 And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s
son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings
shall serve themselves of him.
Ver. 7. And all nations shall serve him.] All the neighbouring nations, and some
others more remote; but never was any man παντοκρατωρ, universal monarch,
though some have styled themselves so, as did Sesostris King of Egypt:
“ Qui Pharios currus regum cervicibus egit. ”
Until the very time of his land come.] The greatest monarchies had their times and
their turns, their rise and their ruin.
And then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him.] As the
Chaldeans had served themselves of the Assyrians, so did the Persians of the
Chaldeans, the Greeks of the Persians, the Romans of the Greeks, the Goths and
Vandals, and now the Turks, of the Romans; such an aestuaria vicissitudo there is
in earthly kingdoms, such a strange uncertainty in all things here below.
"Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace,
whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear." [Hebrews
12:28] Let us serve him, and not serve ourselves upon him, as self-seekers do.
WHEDON, "Verse 7
7. The very time of his land — The time when it, too, shall be given to the speller.
Shall serve themselves of him — That is, shall make him to serve them.
Son, and his son’s son — The actual facts do not certainly accord with this form of
expression. Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son, and then by his son-in-law,
and he by his own son in turn. But the phrase here used is proverbial in form, (see
Deuteronomy 6:2,) and only implies the long duration of Nebuchadnezzar’s dynasty.
COKE, "Jeremiah 27:7. All nations shall serve him, and his son, &c.— Balthasar or
Evil-Merodach being killed, this prophesy was fulfilled; for this prince was son of
Nebuchodonosor the IId. or the grandson of Nebuchodonosor or Nebuchadnezzar,
mentioned Jeremiah 27:8.
Until the very time— Houbigant renders the latter part as he did the beginning of
Jeremiah 27:14 chap. 25:
36

37. PULPIT, "Him, and his son, and his son's son. This is intelligible only if the seventy
years predicted by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 25:11, Jeremiah 25:12, Jeremiah 29:10,
are a round number. Nebuchadnezzar died in B.C. 561, and was succeeded by his
son Evil-Merodach, who, after two years, was put to death by Neriglissar. In B.C.
555 Laberosoarchod (?) became king, but after nine months a usurper belonging to
another family, Nabonedus or Nabunita, ascended the throne, which he occupied till
B.C. 538, the year of the fall of Babylon. "Seventy years," taken literally, only
brings us to B.C. 555, seventeen years short of the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus.
Until the very time of his land come; rather, until the time of his own land come.
Nebuchadnezzar cannot ensure his realm against captivity. Shall serve themselves of
him (For the meaning of the phrase, see on Jeremiah 25:14.)
8 “‘“If, however, any nation or kingdom will not
serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon or bow its
neck under his yoke, I will punish that nation with
the sword, famine and plague, declares the Lord,
until I destroy it by his hand.
GILL, "And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will
not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon,.... Will not, upon his
approaching to them, invading and besieging them, submit and become tributary to him,
as is more fully expressed in the next clause:
and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon; or
voluntarily become subject to him, and pay a tax he shall impose upon them. This refers
to, and explains the symbol of, Jeremiah's making and wearing yokes, Jer_27:2;
that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the sword, and with the
famine, and with the pestilence; with one judgment after another; some will perish
by the sword of the enemy, sallying out upon them, or endeavouring to make their
escape; others by famine their provisions being spent through the length of the siege;
and others by pestilence, or the plague, by the immediate hand of God:
until I have consumed them by his hand; Nebuchadnezzar's; by means of him; by
his sword, and strait besieging them; or, "into his hand"; and so the Targum,
37

38. "until I have delivered them into his hand;''
having consumed multitudes by the sword, famine, and pestilence, will deliver the rest
into his hands to be carried captive by him.
JAMISON, "until I have consumed them by his hand — until by these
consuming visitations I have brought them under his power.
CALVIN, "After having promulgated his decree by the mouth of Jeremiah, God
now adds a threatening, in order that the Jews as well as others might willingly, and
with resigned and humble minds, undertake the yoke laid on them. The Prophet,
indeed, as we have said, had the Jews more especially in view; but he extended, as it
were by accident, his prediction to aliens. We hence see why this denunciation of
punishment was added. It ought, indeed, to have been enough to say, that
Nebuchadnezzar was God’s servant to subdue Judea; but as it was a hard thing for
the Jews to receive that enemy, nor could they be induced to submit to him, it
became necessary to add this threatening, “See what ye do, for ye cannot be
stronger than God.” This threatening is indeed included in the former verse; but we
know how tardy men are to learn, especially when any false impression has
preoccupied their minds. As, then, the Jews refused the authority of
Nebuchadnezzar, though the Prophet had testified to them that he was God’s
servant, they would not have hesitated still to evade and to be refractory, had not
their hardness and obduracy been broken by this commination.
And it shall be, that the nation and kingdom, which will not serve him, even
Nebuchadnezzar, and not put their neck under his yoke, it shall be, that I shall visit
that nation, etc. God speaks without distinction of all nations; but the Jews ought to
have reasoned from the less to the greater; for if God would so severely punish the
pride of the Gentiles, in case they withdrew themselves from under the yoke of
Nebuchadnezzar, how much heavier and more dreadful vengeance ought the Jews
to have dreaded, who had been warned by the Prophet, and who doubtless knew
that this happened not to them by chance, but that it was God’s righteous judgment,
by which their sins were punished? Were they obstinately to attempt to shake off
the yoke from their neck, would not this have been to fight against God? We now,
then, perceive that the Prophet spoke thus indiscriminately of all nations, that he
might sharply rebuke the Jews; and he showed that their ferocity would be
inexcusable were they not willingly to humble themselves.
By mentioning twice, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, he seems to imply
something important; for they might have objected and said, “What have we to do
with a king so distant? and by what right does he now invade our countries? why is
he not content with his own burdens? why does he not abide in his own city and in
his own land?” And the name of Babylon was at the same time hateful, for they had
carried on war with many nations, and reduced the Assyrians under their yoke, who
38

39. were neighbors to the Jews, and the Assyrians were also in a manner connected with
them; and their name was no doubt abhorred by the Jews, on account of the wars
perpetually carried on by them. Hence God meets here these objections, and shows
that however odious Babylon might be to the Jews, and that however remote
Nebuchadnezzar might be from Judea, yet his yoke was to be borne, as it had been
so appointed by God. This seems to me to be the reason why Jeremiah repeated the
words, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon
There is also a denunciation of punishment, that God would visit with pestilence,
famine, and the sword We know that these words are commonly mentioned in
Scripture, when it is God’s purpose to set forth the signs of his wrath. He has indeed
various and innumerable ways by which he chastises us; but these are his most
remarkable and most known scourges, the pestilence, the sword, and the famine. He
then says, that he would visit the nations who would not obey King Nebuchadnezzar
with these three scourges; and at the same time he shews what the end would be,
until I slay, or consume them by his hand He not only threatens them with
pestilence, famine, and the sword, but he also shows that the end would be such,
that the nations who might at first obstinately resist, would yet be constrained to
undertake the yoke, and to acknowledge Nebuchadnezzar as their king and master.
This is the reason why he says, by his hand
Death might have seemed lighter, if only they could have escaped the tyranny of
Nebuchadnezzar; but since both would happen to them, even to be consumed by
famine, the sword, and the pestilence, and yet not to be able to escape bondage, it
was a miserable prospect indeed. We now then perceive why God speaks of the hand
of the King Nebuchadnezzar; it was, that the Jews might know that they could effect
nothing by seeking means to escape, for they would at length, willing or unwilling,
be brought under the hand and under the yoke of this king.
COFFMAN, ""And it shall come to pass, that the nation and the kingdom which
will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and will not put their neck
under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish saith Jehovah, with
the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them
by his hand. But as for you, hearken ye not to your prophets, nor to your diviners,
nor to your dreams, nor to your soothsayers, nor to your sorcerers that speak unto
you, saying, ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you,
to remove you far from your land, and that I should drive you out, and ye should
perish. But the nation that shall bring their neck under the yoke of the king of
Babylon, and serve him, will I let remain in their own land, saith Jehovah; and they
shall till it, and dwell therein."
It appears from this paragraph that even the captivity of the whole of Judah might
have been averted, even at that late date, provided that Zedekiah had led the people
to accept the verdict of Jehovah and faithfully serve the king of Babylon. It was the
eventual rebellion of Zedekiah against Babylon that resulted in the final total ruin
of Jerusalem and the wholesale deportation of the people into their captivity. It
39

40. seems to have been the possibility, however remote, of avoiding that ultimate
disaster which was the very thing Jeremiah had in mind in his message to the false
priests and prophets in Jeremiah 27:16ff.
Zedekiah was a weak and wavering monarch; and he managed to stand with
Jeremiah in the events of his fourth year (the date of this chapter); but in his
eleventh and final year, he went with the popular movement in favor of rebellion;
and the final ruin of Judah was shortly accomplished. In this fourth year of
Zedekiah, that monarch made a pilgrimage to Babylon, probably for the purpose of
reaffirming his loyalty to Nebuchadnezzar, and for the purpose of convincing
Nebuchadnezzar that he had not participated in the coalition which the neighboring
nations had attempted to form against Babylon.
All of the evil practitioners mentioned here, the prophets, diviners, soothsayers,
sorcerers, dreamers, etc. were banned and forbidden by the Law of Moses
(Deuteronomy 18:9-13). "They were pedlars of falsehood."[6] They had no message
at all from God. They merely told the people what they believed the people wanted
to hear. If the nation consented to the overlordship of Babylon, they would have to
pay tribute; but they could go on living in their land. Following their false leaders
robbed them of this more favorable option.
ELLICOTT, "(9) Therefore hearken ye not to your prophets.—The almost
exhaustive list of the names given to the men who claimed the power of prevision,
may have had its ground in the fact that each of the five names was characteristic of
this or that among the five nations to whom the message was sent. Of the names
themselves, the prominent idea in “prophet” is that of full-flowing utterance; in
“diviners,” that of casting lots, as in Ezekiel 21:21; in “dreamers,” what the English
word indicates; in enchanters, that of practising “veiled” or “secret” arts (Leviticus
19:26; Deuteronomy 18:10); in “sorcerers,” that of muttered and whispered spells
(Isaiah 8:19; Isaiah 47:9-13; 2 Kings 9:22). It is clear that the five nations of the
confederacy were sustained in their rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar by a
unanimity of prediction from men of all these classes like that which lured Ahab to
his destruction (1 Kings 22:22). Every oracle was tuned, as it were, in favour of the
policy of resistance.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 27:8 And it shall come to pass, [that] the nation and kingdom
which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will
not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish,
saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until
I have consumed them by his hand.
Ver. 8. And it shall come to pass that the nation, &c.] It is better, then, to serve a
foreign prince than to perish by the sword, famine, or pestilence. It should not be
grievous to any man to sacrifice all his outward comforts to the service of his life.
And that will not put their neck under the yoke.] The Lord disposeth of the
40

41. kingdoms of the heathens also, though in such a way as may seem to us to be mere
hap hazard.
That nation will I punish.] By seeking to shun a less mischief, they shall fall into a
greater; if they escape frost, they shall meet with snow.
PETT, "27. 8 “And it will come about, that the nation and the kingdom which will
not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their
neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, says YHWH,
with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed
them by his hand.”
Moreover any nation who refused to submit to Babylon and serve Nebuchadnezzar
would be punished by YHWH Himself for disobeying His will. Note the reference to
the yoke based on the illustration that he had sent through the ambassadors. Their
punishment would come about through sword, famine and pestilence (the regular
Jeremaic means, compare Jeremiah 14:12; etc), until Nebuchadnezzar had totally
consumed them. The three judgments were the constant price of war. War not only
slaughtered people, but it burned and desolated fields, and caused conditions which
encourage pestilence, especially when people had to ‘flee to the mountains’. But the
three judgments could also arise separately. See Jeremiah 14:1; 2 Samuel 21; 2
Samuel 24:15; 1 Kings 17-18; etc.
9 So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners,
your interpreters of dreams, your mediums or
your sorcerers who tell you, ‘You will not serve
the king of Babylon.’
BARNES, "Dreamers - literally, as in the margin. People dream dreams for
themselves, and go to diviners to ask the explanation of them.
41

42. CLARKE, "Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets - Who pretend to have
a revelation from heaven.
Nor to your diviners - ‫קסמיכם‬ kosemeychem, from ‫קסם‬ kasam, to presage or
prognosticate. Persons who guessed at futurity by certain signs in the animate or
inanimate creation.
Nor to your dreamers - ‫חלמתיכם‬ chalomotheychem, from ‫חלם‬ chalam, to break in
pieces; hence ‫חלום‬ chalom, a dream, because it consists of broken fragments. Dream-
interpreters, who, from these broken shreds patch up a meaning by their own
interpolations.
Nor to your enchanters - ‫ענניכם‬ oneneychem, from ‫ענן‬ anan, a cloud - cloud-
mongers. Diviners by the flight, color, density, rarity, and shape of clouds.
Nor to your sorcerers - ‫כשפיכם‬ cashshapheychem, from ‫כשף‬ kashaph, to discover;
the discoverers, the finders out of hidden things, stolen goods, etc. Persons also who use
incantations, and either by spells or drugs pretend to find out mysteries, or produce
supernatural effects. Every nation in the world had persons who pretended to find out
hidden things, or foretell future events; and such were gladly encouraged by the ignorant
multitude; and many of them were mere apes of the prophets of God. Man knows that he
is short-sighted, feels pain at the uncertainty of futurity, and wishes to have his doubts
resolved by such persons as the above, to put an end to his uncertainty.
GILL, "Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets,.... False prophets, as the
Targum. These words are not directed to the Jews, but are a continuation of what the
messengers of the nations should say to their masters from the God of Israel, by the
mouth of his prophet; for they had their prophets as well as the Jews; as the prophets of
Baal, and others:
nor to your diviners; or soothsayers; such an one as was Balaam:
nor to your dreamers; or "dreams"; such as they had themselves, and laid great
stress upon; or to those who pretended to interpret them to them:
nor to your enchanters; or stargazers; astrologers, who pretended by the position of
the stars to foretell what would come to pass:
nor to your sorcerers; or wizards, or necromancers; who, by unlawful methods,
pretended to acquire knowledge of future things:
which speak unto you, saying, ye shall not serve the king of Babylon;
meaning, either that they ought not to become tributary to him; or they should not be
brought into subjection by him: and so were stirred up to oppose him, and not submit to
him.
JAMISON, "ye — the Jews especially, for whom the address to the rest was intended.
enchanters — augurs [Calvin], from a root, the “eyes,” that is, lookers at the stars
and other means of taking omens of futurity; or another root, a “fixed time,” observers of
42

43. times: forbidden in the law (Lev_19:26; Deu_18:10, Deu_18:11, Deu_18:14).
K&D, "Therefore they must not hearken to their prophets, soothsayers, and
sorcerers, that prophesy the contrary. The mention of dreams between the prophets and
soothsayers on the one hand, and the enchanters and sorcerers on the other, strikes us
as singular. It is, however, to be explained from the fact, that prophets and soothsayers
often feigned dreams and dream-revelations (cf. Jer_23:25); and other persons, too,
might have dreams, and could give them out as significant. Cf. Jer_29:8, where dreams
are expressly distinguished from the discourse of the prophets and soothsayers. Whether
the reckoning of five kinds of heathen prophecy has anything to do with the naming of
five kings (Hitz.), appears to us to be questionable; but it is certain that Jeremiah does
not design to specify five different, i.e., distinct and separate, kinds of heathen
divination. For there was in reality no such distinction. Heathen prophecy was closely
allied with sorcery ad soothsaying; cf. Deu_18:9., and Oehler on the Relation of Old
Testament Prophecy to Heathen Divination (Tüb. 1861). The enumeration of the
multifarious means and methods for forecasting the future is designed to show the
multitude of delusive schemes for supplying the lack of true and real divine inspiration.
‫ים‬ ִ‫פ‬ָ‫שּׁ‬ַ‫,כּ‬ equivalent to ‫ים‬ ִ‫פ‬ָ‫שּׁ‬ַ‫כ‬ ְ‫מ‬ , the same which in Deu_18:10 is used along with ‫ֵן‬‫נ‬ ‫ע‬ ֵ‫.מ‬
The explanation of the last-mentioned word is disputed. Some take it from ‫ָן‬‫נ‬ָ‫,ע‬ cloud =
cloud-maker or storm-raiser; others from ‫ן‬ִ‫י‬ַ‫,ע‬ eye = fascinator, the idea being that of
bewitching with the evil eye; see on Lev_19:26. The use of the word along with ‫שׁ‬ ֵ‫ַח‬‫נ‬ ְ‫מ‬
‫ף‬ֵ‫שּׁ‬ַ‫כ‬ ְ‫,וּמ‬ Deu_18:10, favours the latter rendering, whereas no passage in which the word
is used in the Old Testament supports the sig. storm-raiser. "That I should remove you,"
as is shown by the continuation of the infinitive by ‫י‬ ִ‫תּ‬ ְ‫ח‬ ַ‫דּ‬ ִ‫ה‬ ְ‫.ו‬ The false prophets delude
the people, inducing them to rise in rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar, contrary to God's
will, and thus simply bringing about their expulsion from their land, i.e., removal into
banishment. ‫ן‬ַ‫ע‬ ַ‫מ‬ ְ‫ל‬ shows, as frequently, that the inevitable consequence of these
persons' proceedings is designed by them.
CALVIN, "As Jeremiah had declared to the king, as well as to the citizens, that they
could not escape the punishment that was at hand, he now shakes off from them
that vain confidence, which was as an obstacle in the way, so that they were not
touched by threatenings, nor received wholesome warnings. For the false prophets
deceived them by their flatteries, and promised that all things would happen
prosperously to them. As then the Prophet saw that the ears both of the king and of
the people were closed against him, so that he could do little or nothing by exhorting
and threatening them, he added what he deemed necessary, even that all the things
which the false prophets vainly said were altogether fallacious.
He therefore said, Hear ye not your prophets and your diviners; for ‫,קסם‬ kosam, is
to divine; then he adds, your dreamers; in the fourth place, your augurs; in the fifth
place, your sorcerers, or charmers. Some indeed regard ‫,עננים‬ onnim, as observers of
time, for ‫,עונה‬ oune, is a stated time, hence they who imagine that a thing is to be
43

44. done on this or that day, and promise a happy issue, were called, as they think, ‫עננים‬
onnim, because they superstitiously observed hours and periods of time. But as ‫,ענן‬
onen, means a cloud, they may also be called ‫,עננים‬ onnim, who divined by the stars,
and hence took counsel as to what was to be done. (184)
But let us now inquire, whether Jeremiah speaks of such dreamers, and others as
were among the Jews, or whether he includes also such as were found among the
neighboring nations. It seems probable to me, that what he says ought to be
confined to the Jews; for I take the word ye, as emphatical, Hear ye not, etc. There
follows afterwards an explanation, According to these words have I spoken to the
king; and then he adds, that he spoke to the priests and to the people. Hence then we
conclude, that the whole of this part was probably addressed to the Jews alone.
Divinations,
auguries, and incantations, were indeed prohibited in the Law; but we well know
how often the Jews gave up themselves to these tricks of the devil, the Law of God
being wholly despised by them. It is then no wonder if at this time there were among
them magicians, as well as augurs and diviners, notwithstanding the manifest
prohibition of the Law. We may, however, so understand these words, as that the
Prophet compared these false prophets to diviners, as well as to augurs and
sorcerers. He sets, in the first place, the prophets, but in mentioning them, he seems
to mark them with disgrace, because they had departed from their own office, and
had assumed another character, for they deceived the people, as augurs, diviners,
and magicians were wont to deceive the nations.
It is indeed certain, as I have before reminded you, that the Prophet spoke, not for
the sake of other nations, but that the Jews might be rendered inexcusable, or, if
there was any hope of repentance, that they might be reminded not to proceed in
their usual course. We hence see the meaning of the words, and at the same time
perceive the design of the Prophet, or rather of the Holy Spirit, who spoke by his
mouth.
I said at first that the Prophet met an objection, which might have lessened or taken
away the authority of his doctrine; for it was not a small trial, that the prophets
denied that any evil was at hand. For the prophetic name was ever held in great
repute and respect among the Jews. But we see also at this day, and experience
sufficiently teaches us, that men are more ready to receive error and vanity, than to
receive the word of God; and so it was then, and the Jews imagined that they
honored God, because they regarded his Prophets. But when any one faithfully
performed the prophetic office, he was often despised. The Jews therefore were
taken up only with a mere name, and thought that they did all that was required by
saying that they attended to the prophets, while at the same time they boldly
despised the true servants of God. It is so at this day; while the name of the Catholic
Church is boasted of under the Papacy, it seems that a regard is had for God; but
when the word of God is brought forward, when what has been spoken by apostles
and prophets is adduced, it is regarded almost as nothing. We hence see that the
44

45. Papists separate God as it were from himself, as the Jews formerly did.
And hence also we see how necessary it was for Jeremiah to remove such a
stumblingblock; for the Jews might have pertinaciously insisted on this objection, —
“Thou alone threatenest us with exile; but we have many who glory in being
prophets, and who promise safety to us: wouldest thou have us to believe thee alone
rather than these who are many?” Thus the Prophet, being alone, had to contend
with the false prophets, who were many. And we have now a similar contest with the
Papists; for they boast, of their number; and then they object, that nothing would be
certain, if it was allowed to every one to appeal to the word of God. They hence
conclude that we ought simply to believe the Church, and to receive whatever is
brought under the pretense of being Scripture. But Jeremiah had confidence in his
own vocation, and had really proved his divine mission, and also that he proclaimed
the messages which he had received from the mouth of God. As then he had given
certain proofs of his vocation, he had a right to oppose all those false prophets, and
not only to disregard their lies, but also in a manner to tread them under his feet, as
he seems to have done, Hear ye not, he says, your prophets
He concedes to them an honorable name, but improperly. It is therefore a
catachristic way of speaking, when he names them prophets; but he leaves them
their title, as it was not necessary to contend about words. Yet he shews at the same
time that they were wholly unworthy of being heard. Hence no authority was left
them, though a mere empty name was conceded to them. It is the same at this day,
when we call those priests, bishops, and presbyters, who cover themselves with these
masks, and yet shew that there is in them nothing episcopal, nothing ecclesiastical,
and, in short, nothing that belongs to the doctrine of Christ, or to any lawful order.
He afterwards adds, Who say to yote, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon
We have said that the last clause is rendered by some as an exhortation, Serve ye not
the king of Babylon, as though the false prophets stimulated the Jews to shake off
the yoke.: But the proper meaning of the verb may be still retained, Ye shall not
serve; for we know that the false prophets, when they came forth, pretended to be
God’s ambassadors, sent to promise tranquillity, peace, and prosperity to the Jews.
Thus they reigned to do, when yet God, as it has been stated, and as we shall again
see presently, had testified that there was no other remedy for the people but by
submitting to the king of Babylon. It follows —
1.Prophets — who claimed divine inspiration;
2.Diviners — who prognosticated by means of lots and arrows;
3.Dreamers — who pretended that they had divine dreams;
4.Astrologers — who foretold events by the clouds and stars:
5.Sorcerers — who pretended to have familiar converse with some spirit.
45

46. Parkhurst considers the second, diviners, as a general term, meaning those who
divined either by dreams or stars, or familiar spirits; and he renders the fourth
word cloudmongers, though he considers that they prognosticated by the stars, as
well as by meteors, thunder, lightning, and probably by the flight of birds; but he
regards the last word as meaning those who pretended to discover hidden and
future things by magical means. How completely heathenized were the Jews
become! they believed all these Pagan delusions rather than the infallible oracles of
God! and yet these were things expressly forbidden in their law. — Ed.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 27:9 Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your
diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which
speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon:
Ver. 9. Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets.] Whom the devil setteth to work
to persuade you otherwise to your ruin; as he is an old manslayer, and hath his
breathing devils abroad as his agents, such as are here mentioned.
WHEDON, "9. Prophets… diviners… dreamers… enchanters… sorcerers — Five
kinds of heathen prophecy are here mentioned, and five kings have also been
introduced. (See Jeremiah 27:5.) But this correspondence is, without doubt, purely
accidental. The only significance to be attached to the fact that so many terms are
here employed is, that they suggest and illustrate the variety of delusive schemes for
supplying to the people the lack of inspiration. Error is many; truth is one.
COKE, "Jeremiah 27:9. Therefore, hearken not, &c.— He speaks to Zedekiah and
to the messengers of the other princes spoken of in Jeremiah 27:3. The diviners,
dreamers, &c. belonged to the idolatrous nations; as the prophets to the Jews.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, The date of this prophesy is in the beginning of the reign of
Jehoiakim; then probably the yokes were made in token of Judah's subjection,
which soon began, though only sent to the neighbouring nations several years after,
in the reign of Zedekiah, when the time of their captivity drew nearer.
1. The sign given is, the making bonds and yokes, and the putting one (probably a
light, small one) on his own neck, in token of the bondage to which the people
should be delivered; and this he wore for many years, as appears from chap.
Jeremiah 28:1-10.
2. He is commanded to send one of these to all the neighbouring nations, by the
hand of the messengers who came to Jerusalem to congratulate Zedekiah on his
accession, or to make a league with him to oppose the growing power of the king of
Babylon, and, in case of invasion, to unite their forces. A vain design! which God
had determined to disappoint; and therefore they are enjoined to tell their masters
from God, when they delivered the prophetic symbol of their captivity, that the
Lord of Hosts, at whose beck are the armies of heaven and earth; the God of Israel;
46

47. the great Creator of all, and who, therefore, had an absolute right to dispose of all
the creatures of his hand, had given these lands, with all their produce, into the
hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his servant, raised up to be his minister
of wrath; and under his dominion they must continue, and under that of his son,
and his son's son, see chap. Jeremiah 25:14 till the seventy years should be
completed, during which the captivity should last; and then other mightier kings
and nations should destroy this monarchy, and raise another on its ruins. Resistance
to the divine decree would but aggravate their misery, and expose them to more
horrid desolation, and diverse kinds of death; nor must they give heed to their
diviners and sorcerers, who would flatter them with lying hopes, which would
infallibly disappoint them, and, by encouraging them to resist, exasperate their
conquerors more fearfully to destroy them; while those who patiently submitted and
surrendered themselves should find favour in the sight of their enemies, and be
suffered quietly to remain under tribute, and not be carried away captive into a
strange land. Note; (1.) The earth is the Lord's, and he doth as pleases him with it,
and none have reason to murmur against his disposal of his own. (2.) The wicked
frequently enjoy the greatest share of this world's good. (3.) To struggle against
God's providence is to oppose in vain; for when he judges he will overcome. (4.)
Patience will alleviate the burdens which perverseness but aggravates.
2nd, Jerusalem was now tributary to the king of Babylon: but Zedekiah was
meditating rebellion, and his false prophets encouraging him with hopes of success;
but the consequence would be, the completion of the nation's ruin.
1. The prophet addresses the king of Judah with earnestness, beseeching him, for his
own and his people's sake, patiently to submit and live, since all revolt against the
king of Babylon would certainly prove fatal in the issue, and expose them to all the
miseries of a siege and the massacre of a city taken by storm, notwithstanding the
lies of the false prophets who flattered him and the people to their ruin, and would
themselves fall under the judgment. Note; (1.) Rebellion against God will be
attended with still more fearful consequences: how much better is it to bow our
necks to the easy yoke of Christ, and live! (2.) They who embolden sinners in their
evil ways shall perish with them, the deceived and the deceiver together.
2. He gives the priests and people the same warning as he had given to their king,
admonishing them of the folly of hearkening to the false prophets; your prophets he
calls them, because they chose their lying visions, and loved to have it so. They told
them, that they should be successful in their revolt, and that the king of Babylon
would soon be willing to purchase peace from them by the restoration of the sacred
vessels which had been carried to Babylon; but, alas! they were only pushing them
to the precipice of destruction, bringing on the utter ruin of their city, and the
demolition of the temple; when, as Nebuchadnezzar had before taken the vessels of
gold, 2 Kings 24:13-15 so far would he be from restoring them, that all the other
vessels, with the pillars, sea, and bases of brass, should follow them into Babylon.
Better, therefore, far better were it, that they should become intercessors with God
to prevent the impending judgments, and preserve what was left, than flatter them
47

48. with the delusive hopes of the restoration of what had been carried away. Note; (1.)
True prophets will be advocates before God in prayer for those to whom they
preach. They who maintain no communion with God can have no commission from
him. (2.) The general ruin of sinners arises from false hopes, with which their lying
and lazy teachers flatter them, who cry peace! when there is no peace.
3. The prophesy concludes with a gleam of hope amid the darkness of this long
captivity. Though the vessels of the Lord's house, and of the houses of the kings and
princes of Judah, should be thus carried to Babylon, they should not be lost, but
safely laid up against the time appointed of God, when, after the seventy years were
fulfilled, they should again be restored; which was marvellously accomplished by
Cyrus, Ezra 1:7. Note; (1.) In wrath God still remembers mercy. (2.) Though the
time of the church's distress be long, we must not despair; the vision is for an
appointed time, at the end it shall speak: blessed are all they that wait for it.
PETT, "Jeremiah 27:9-10
“But as for you, do not you listen to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your
dreams, nor to your soothsayers, nor to your sorcerers, who speak to you, saying,
‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy a lie to you, to remove
you far from your land, and that I should drive you out, and you should perish.”
Nor were they to listen to anyone who said otherwise (which they all did and had
cause to rue it). The descriptions covered all means by which nations sought to
obtain guidance from their gods, including prophets with their drug-induced
prophecies, diviners with their differing divining methods (including casting lots,
reading the dregs left in vessels, looking at the entrails of sacrificial animals, etc.),
dreamers with their drug-induced dreams, soothsayers and sorcerers with all their
different approaches including calling on familiar spirits, enchantments, secret arts,
and the muttering of spells. Compare Isaiah 8:19; Isaiah 47:12-13; 2 Kings 9:22.
There would be a natural tendency to ‘divine’ against subjection to Babylon as that
was undoubtedly the favoured option once the time seemed ripe, but the people were
not to listen to such ideas because they were all lies.
PULPIT, "Your dreamers; rather, your dreams. So in Jeremiah 29:8 the "dreams"
of the people are expressly distinguished from the utterances of the prophets and
soothsayers. In our passage the "dreamers" are appropriately mentioned between
the "diviners" and the "enchanters," because the skill of the soothsayers partly lay
in the interpretation of dreams (comp. Genesis 41:8; Daniel 2:2).
10 They prophesy lies to you that will only serve
48

49. to remove you far from your lands; I will banish
you and you will perish.
BARNES, "To remove you far ... - That would be the result of their vaticinations.
GILL, "For they prophesy a lie unto you,.... That which was vain and false, and
proved so; though they might not know it was when delivered:
to remove you far from your land; not that they designed it by their prophecies, but
so it was eventually; for, standing it out against Nebuchadnezzar, encouraged by the lies
and dreams of their prophets, he, in process of time, took them, and carried them
captive into Babylon; whereas, had they surrendered at once, they might have continued
in their own land, paying a tax or tribute to the king of Babylon:
and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish; drive them out of their
own land, and so perish in a foreign land: God is said to do that which his servant or
instrument did, being provoked by the sin and disobedience of the people, hearkening to
their lying prophets, and not to him.
JAMISON, "to remove you — expressing the event which would result. The very
thing they profess by their enchantments to avert, they are by them bringing on you.
Better to submit to Nebuchadnezzar, and remain in your land, than to rebel, and be
removed from it.
CALVIN, "This verse also confirms what I have said, — that this discourse was
designed for the Jews, and that it was peculiarly for them; for what is said here
could not be applied to heathen nations. What then had been lately said of augurs,
magicians, and diviners, ought no doubt to be understood of those impostors who,
under the name of prophets, deceived that miserable people.
He says that they prophesied falsehood Many, no doubt, adduced, for the purpose of
opposing him, their own evasions: “Art thou alone to be believed? dost thou alone
tell the truth? how dost thou prove that what thou teachest is an oracle from heaven,
and that these deceive us?” For so do the ungodly usually clamor, as we see to be the
case at this day with the Papists, who cover themselves with a pretense of this kind:
for whatever abomination there may be, they cover it over by means of this
sophistry alone — that the Scripture is obscure, and that controversy is uncertain,
and that therefore nothing is to be believed but what the Church has decreed: so
with them the definition of men, as they say, is the only rule of faith; and hence, also,
the whole authority of Scripture is by them trodden under foot, as though God had
in vain spoken by his own prophets and apostles. There is no doubt but the doctrine
of Jeremiah was opposed by such clamors: he however persevered in the course of
his office, and boldly condemned the prophets, that they only deceived the Jews by
49

50. their lies.
He adds, that they may remove you far from your land I have said that this cannot
be applied to other nations: but God gave a hope of mercy to his people, provided
they willingly obeyed the king of Babylon. It was not indeed a full pardon; yet it was
owing to his kindness that God did not treat the Jews with strict justice, but
chastised them with gentleness and paternal moderation: for it was an endurable
punishment, to remain in their own country and to pay tribute to the king of
Babylon. God then would have mitigated the punishment of the people, if only they
had willingly undertaken the yoke., This is what Jeremiah now says: “The false
prophets seek only this, to drive you far from your country; for they would have you
to think that you shall be free from all punishment: but God is prepared to deal
gently with you; though he will not wholly pass by your vices, yet your chastisement
will be one easily borne, for ye shall remain in your own country. But if ye will
believe these impostors, they will lead you away into distant exile; for God says, I
will cast you away, and ye shall perish.” (185)
If it be objected again that the Jews could not form a certain opinion, whether
Jeremiah was to be believed rather than the others who were many, the answer is at
hand: they were themselves conscious of being wicked, and there was no need of
long debates to ascertain what was true; for every one found God’s judgment to be
against himself, as they had departed from the pure worship of God, and had
polluted themselves with many ungodly superstitions, and a license in all kinds of
sins had also prevailed among them: they had been warned, not once, nor for one
day, but by many prophets, and also continually and for a long time. As then they
had thus provoked God’s vengeance by their obstinate wickedness, how could they
be in doubt respecting Jeremiah, whether he had, as from the mouth of God, and as
a celestial herald declared to them what they deserved? And surely whenever men
pretend that they have fallen through error or ignorance, they can always be
deprived of this evasion; for their own conscience convicts them, and is sufficient to
condemn them.
God adds, that the Jews would perish, except they anticipated extreme judgment,
that is, except they submitted to paternal chastisement. This passage deserves to be
specially noticed, as we shall presently see again; for we are here taught that
whenever God shews some signs of displeasure, there is nothing better for us than to
prepare ourselves for patience; for we shall thus ever give place and a free passage
to his mercy: but by pertinacity we gain nothing, and do nothing but kindle his
wrath more and more. This then is what Jeremiah means when he declares, that
they who submitted not to the king of Babylon would perish. It follows —
10.For falsely do they prophesy to you, so as to remove you away far from your own
land; for I will drive you away and ye shall perish, (that is, from the land.)
The word ‫שקר‬ may often be rendered adverbially. That ‫ו‬ may sometimes be
rendered for, is evident: he threatens expulsion and ruin in case they listened to
50

51. false prophesying; then, in the next verse, he promises continuance in the land to the
obedient, “But the nation that brings its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon
and serves him, I will make that to settle on its land, saith Jehovah, that it may
cultivate it and abide in it.” — Ed
ELLICOTT, "(10) To remove you far from your land.—The prophet speaks of what
he foresees will be the result of the rebellion to which soothsayers and diviners were
urging men, as if it were actually contemplated by them. They are to him like the
lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab’s prophets persuading him to go up to Ramoth
Gilead to battle, in order that he might perish.
11 But if any nation will bow its neck under the
yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will
let that nation remain in its own land to till it and
to live there, declares the Lord.”’”
BARNES, "Nations ... - Rather, the nation.
GILL, "But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of
Babylon, and serve him,.... That at once, and readily, submit unto him, and pay him
tribute:
those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the Lord; undisturbed by
any other enemy; peaceably dwelling in their own habitations; following their
occupations and business of life; and enjoying their substance and estates, only paying
the tax imposed on them:
and they shall till it, and dwell therein; manure and cultivate it, and gather and eat
the fruit of it, and continue to do so, they and their posterity after them.
JAMISON, "serve ... till it — The same Hebrew root expresses “serve” and “till,” or
“cultivate.” Serve ye the king of Babylon, and the land will serve you [Calvin].
51

52. CALVIN, "He seems indeed to speak here indiscriminately of all nations; but the
admonition belongs to the Jews alone, as we have said, and as it appears from the
context. He seems however to mention the nations, that he might more sharply touch
the Jews, as though he had said, “Though God’s promises are not to be extended to
heathen nations, yet God will spare the Tyrians and the Moabites, if they submit
quietly to the king of Babylon, and take upon them his yoke. If God will spare
heathen nations, when yet he has promised them nothing, what may his chosen
people expect? But if he will punish nations who err in darkness, what will become
of a people who knowingly and wilfully resist God and his judgments?” For
obstinacy in the Jews was mad impiety, as though they avowedly designed to carry
on war with God; for they knew that Nebuchadnezzar was the executioner of God’s
vengeance. When therefore they ferociously attempted to exempt themselves from
his power, it was to fight with God, as though they would not submit to his scourges.
We now then perceive why Jeremiah spoke what we here read, not only of the Jews,
but also generally of all nations, The nation that brings its neck under the yoke of
the king of Babylon, and serves him, I will leave it in its own land We must yet bear
in mind what I have before said, that the Jews were the people especially regarded.
If, then, they had given place to God’s kindness, he would have graciously spared
them, and they would have perpetually enjoyed their own inheritance; but it was
their obstinacy that drove them far into exile. And hence he adds, I will leave it in its
land; and it shall cultivate it and dwell in it
There is a striking allusion in the word ‫,עבד‬ obed, for it means to serve, and also to
cultivate; but there is to be understood a contrast between cultivating the land and
that subjection, to which he exhorted the Jews, as though he had said,— “Serve the
king of Babylon, that the land may serve you; it will be the reward of your
obedience, if you will submit yourselves to the power of the king of Babylon, that the
land will submit, to you, and you will compel it to serve you, so that it will bring
forth food for you.” We hence see that God promised that the land would serve the
people, if they refused not to serve the king of Babylon.
And hence also we may gather useful instruction, — that all the elements would be
serviceable to us, were we willingly to obey God, but that on the contrary, the
heaven, and the earth, and all the elements will be opposed to us, if we
pertinaciously resist God. But Jeremiah speaks here more expressly of the
submission which men render to God, when they calmly receive his correction, and
acknowledge, while he inflicts punishment, that they justly deserve it, and do not
refuse to be chastised by his hand. When, therefore, men thus submit to God’s
judgment, they obtain his favor, so that the earth, and heaven, and all the elements
will serve them. But the more perversely men exalt themselves and raise their horns
against God, the more bondage shall they feel; for their own chains bind them
stronger than anything else, when they thus struggle with God and do not humble
themselves under his mighty hand. The same thing the Prophet still more clearly
confirms when he says, —
52

53. ELLICOTT, "(11) But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke . . .—The
advice thus given to the five nations that were seeking an alliance with Judah before
the actual invasion, is specifically addressed to Judah in the next verse, and is
repeated more fully after the population of Judæa had been carried into captivity,
in Jeremiah 29. The first warning had been despised, and the exiles were then
reaping the fruit of their self-will, but the principle that obedience was better than
resistance remained the same.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 27:11 But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of
the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land,
saith the LORD and they shall till it, and dwell therein.
Ver. 11. But the nations that bring their neck.] When God bids us yoke, it is best to
submit. In all his commands there is so much reason for them, that if God did not
enjoin them, yet it were best, in self-respects, for us to practise them; since in serving
him we shall have the creatures to serve us, &c.
PETT, "Jeremiah 27:11
“But the nation that shall bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon,
and serve him, that nation will I let remain in their own land, the word of YHWH,
and they will till it, and dwell in it.”
Indeed the only way in which they could hope to remain in their lands was by
bringing their necks under the yoke of the King of Babylon and serving him as
Jeremiah had illustrated. Those who did so would be allowed to remain in their own
lands, and till them and dwell in them, because they would thereby be being
obedient YHWH. And this was the assured prophetic word of YHWH. (Thus being
in submission to men can often go hand in hand with obedience to the will of God).
12 I gave the same message to Zedekiah king of
Judah. I said, “Bow your neck under the yoke of
the king of Babylon; serve him and his people,
and you will live.
53

54. GILL, "I spake also to Zedekiah king of Judah,.... At the same time that he
delivered the above message from the Lord to the ambassadors of several nations, who
were then residents in Zedekiah's court, or however in Jerusalem:
according to all these words; the same things, and much in the same language, he
said to the king of Judah, as to the messengers of the nations:
saying; as follows:
bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon; you, O king, your
nobles, and your people. Zedekiah was set upon the throne by the king of Babylon, was a
tributary to him, and had took an oath to be faithful to him; and yet was now meditating
rebellion against him; and was consulting and entering into a confederacy with the
neighbouring nations to throw off the yoke, and be independent on him: wherefore the
sense of this advice must be to bring themselves, he and his people, to a cheerful
submission to it, and a patient bearing it, and not attempt to shake it off:
and serve him and his people, and live: the king of Babylon, and the Chaldeans, by
faithfully paying the tribute, and acknowledging subjection to him; and so "live" in their
own land, enjoying all other civil and religious privileges.
HENRY, "What was said to all the nations is here with a particular tenderness
applied to the nation of the Jews, for whom Jeremiah was sensibly concerned. The case
at present stood thus: Judah and Jerusalem had often contested with the king of
Babylon, and still were worsted; many both of their valuable persons and their valuable
goods were carried to Babylon already, and some of the vessels of the Lord's house
particularly. Now how this struggle would issue was the question. They had those among
them at Jerusalem who pretended to be prophets, who bade them hold out and they
should, in a little time, be too hard for the king of Babylon and recover all that they had
lost. Now Jeremiah is sent to bid them yield and knock under, for that, instead of
recovering what they had lost, they should otherwise lose all that remained; and to press
them to this is the scope of these verses.
I. Jeremiah humbly addresses the king of Judah, to persuade him to surrender to the
king of Babylon. His act would be the people's and would determine them, and therefore
he speaks to him as to them all (Jer_27:12): Bring your necks under the yoke of the king
of Babylon and live. Is it their wisdom to submit to the heavy iron yoke of a cruel tyrant,
that they may secure the lives of their bodies? And is it not much more our wisdom to
submit to the sweet and easy yoke of our rightful Lord and Master Jesus Christ, that we
may secure the lives of our souls? Bring down your spirits to repentance and faith, and
that is the way to bring up your spirits to heaven and glory. And with much more
cogency and compassion may we expostulate with perishing souls than Jeremiah here
expostulates with a perishing people: “Why will you die by the sword and the famine -
miserable deaths, which you inevitably run yourselves upon, under pretence of avoiding
miserable lives?” What God had spoken, in general, of all those that would not submit to
the king of Babylon, he would have them to apply to themselves and be afraid of. It were
well if sinners would, in like manner, be afraid of the destruction threatened against all
those that will not have Christ to reign over them, and reason thus with themselves,
“Why should we die the second death, which is a thousand times worse than that by
sword and famine, when we might submit and live?”
54

55. II. He addresses himself likewise to the priests and the people (Jer_27:16), to
persuade them to serve the king of Babylon, that they might live, and might prevent the
desolation of the city (Jer_27:17): “Wherefore should it be laid waste, as certainly it will
be if you stand it out?” The priests had been Jeremiah's enemies, and had sought his life
to destroy it, yet he approves himself their friend, and seeks their lives, to preserve and
secure them, which is an example to us to render good for evil. When the blood-thirsty
hate the upright, yet the just seek his soul, and the welfare of it, Pro_29:10. The matter
was far gone here; they were upon the brink of ruin, which they would not have been
brought to if they would have taken Jeremiah's counsel; yet he continues his friendly
admonitions to them, to save the last stake and manage that wisely, and now at length in
this their day to understand the things that belong to their peace, when they had but one
day to turn them in.
JAMISON, "I spake also — translate, “And I spake,” etc. Special application of the
subject to Zedekiah.
K&D 12-15, "To King Zedekiah Jeremiah addressed words of like import, saying:
"Bring your necks into the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people,
and ye shall live. Jer_27:13. Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by sword, famine,
and pestilence, as Jahveh hath spoken concerning the people that will not serve the
king of Babylon? Jer_27:14. And hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak
unto you: Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon; for they prophesy a lie unto you. Jer_
27:15. For I have not sent them, saith Jahveh, and they prophesy in my name falsely,
that I might drive you out and ye might perish, ye and the prophets that prophesy unto
you." - The discourse addressed to the king in the plural, "bring your necks," etc., is
explained by the fact that, as Jer_27:13 shows, in and along with the king of his people
are addressed. The imperative ‫יוּ‬ ְ‫ח‬ ִ‫ו‬ intimates the consequence of the preceding
command. Jer_27:13 gives the application of the threat in Jer_27:8 to King Zedekiah
and his people; and Jer_27:14. gives the warning corresponding to Jer_27:9 and Jer_
27:10 against the sayings of the lying prophets; cf. Jer_14:14 and Jer_23:16, Jer_23:21.
CALVIN, "This verse proves with sufficient clearness that what we have hitherto
explained was spoken especially to the chosen people; for Jeremiah tells us here,
that he spoke to the King Zedekiah, and in the sixteenth verse he adds that he spoke
to the priests and to the people. He was not then sent as a teacher to the Moabites,
the Tyrians, and other foreign nations; but God had prescribed to him his limits,
within which he was to keep. He therefore says, that he spoke to the king
We hence learn what he had before said, that he was set over kingdoms and nations;
for the doctrine taught by the prophets is higher than all earthly elevations.
Jeremiah was, indeed, one of the people, and did not exempt himself from the
authority of the king, nor did he pretend that he was released from the laws,
because he possessed that high dignity by which he was superior to kings, as the
Papal clergy do, who vauntingly boast of their immunity, which is nothing else but a
55

56. license to live in wickedness. The Prophet then kept himself in his own rank like
others; and yet when he had to exercise his spiritual jurisdiction in God’s name, he
spared not the king nor his counsellors; for he knew that his doctrine was above all
kings; the prophetic office, then, is eminent above all the elevations of kings.
And skilfully no less than wisely did the Prophet exercise his office by first assailing
the king, as he had been sent to him. At the same time he addressed him in the
plural number, Bring ye your neck, he says; and he did so, because the greater part
of the people depended on the will of their king. Then he adds, Serve ye his people It
was, indeed, a thing very unpleasant to be heard, when the Prophet commanded the
Jews to submit, not only to the king of Babylon, but also to all his subjects; it was an
indignity that must have greatly exasperated them. But he added this designedly,
because he saw that he had to do with men refractory and untamable. As, then, they
were not pliant, he dealt the more sharply with them, as though he wished to break
down their foolish pride. It was not therefore a superfluous expression, when he
bade the Jews to obey all the Chaldeans; for they had been so blinded by perverse
haughtiness, that for a long time they had resisted God and his prophets, and
continued untamable.
There is afterwards added a promise, and ye shall live, (186) which confirms the
truth to which I have referred, — that it is the best remedy for alleviating evils, to
acknowledge that we are justly smitten, and to humble ourselves under the mighty
hand of God; for thus it happens, that evils are turned into medicines, and thus
become salutary to us. Whatever punishment is inflicted on us for our sins, as it is a
sign of God’s wrath, so in a manner it places death before our eyes. Punishment,
then, in itself can do nothing but fill us with dread, nay, overwhelm us with despair;
and I speak of punishment even the slightest; for we suffer nothing which does not
remind us of our sin and guilt, as though God summoned us to his tribunal. How
dreadful surely it must be to sustain this, and to fall into the hands of the living
God? Hence, when God touches us as it were with his little finger, we cannot but fall
down through fear. But this comfort is given to us, that punishment, though in itself
grievous and as it were fatal, becomes profitable to us, when we allow God to be our
judge, and are prepared to endure whatever seems good to him.
This is what the Prophet means, when he promises that the Jews would live, if they
submitted to the king of Babylon; not that they could merit life by their obedience;
but the only way by which we can obtain God’s favor and be reconciled to him, is
willingly to condemn ourselves; for we anticipate extreme judgment, as Paul says,
when we condemn ourselves; and then we shall not be condemned by God. (1
Corinthians 11:31.) For how is it, that God is so angry with the wicked, except that
they wish to be forgiven while in their sins? But this is to pull him down from his
throne, for he is not the judge of the world, if the ungodly escape unpunished and
laugh at all his threatenings. So also on the other hand, when in true humility we
suffer ourselves to be chastised by God, he becomes immediately reconciled to us.
This, then, is the life mentioned here. (187) It follows, —
56

57. COFFMAN, ""And I spake to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words,
saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and
his people, and live. Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the
famine, and by the pestilence, as Jehovah hath spoken concerning the nation that
will not serve the king of Babylon? And hearken not unto the words of the prophets
that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon; for they
prophecy a lie unto you. For I have not sent them, saith Jehovah, but they prophesy
falsely in my name; that I may drive you out, and that ye may perish, ye, and the
prophets that prophesy unto you."
Green spoke of this chapter thus: "Jeremiah provides proof positive of his superb
statesmanship in his assessment of the political situation."[7] Although seemingly
innocent, such a statement violates every true conception of the message of the
inspired prophets of the Old Testament. It was not shrewd statesmanship on
Jeremiah's part. What God revealed through him was in no sense dependent upon
what the prophet himself might have been able to guess or forecast from the basis of
his own knowledge or experience. "The revelations of this chapter are not shrewd
political comment but something which Jeremiah received as he stood in the
counsels of Yahweh."[8]
This paragraph reveals that Jeremiah repeated for Zedekiah the same message
which had been sent, along with the yokes, to the five neighboring kings by their
ambassadors.. So powerful was the influence of all the false prophets, soothsayers,
dreamers, sorcerers etc. of that day that Jeremiah found it appropriate to warn the
king Zedekiah against paying any attention to their falsehoods. "To underestimate
the power of a lie in times of national distress is sheer folly."[9]
The Septuagint (LXX) has omitted much of this chapter; and, upon that basis, some
scholars attempt to reject what is written here; but, "It is far too bold to insist that
the shorter form is the original."[10] Additionally, we reject the silly critical rule
that the shorter of two passages is more likely to be the original. It is just as likely,
or even more likely, that the shorter passage is merely an abbreviation. This is just
another foolish critical dictum designed to serve their evil purposes. Furthermore,
as Keil pointed out, "Considering the innumerable arbitrary interferences of the
LXX with the text of Jeremiah, the omission of the words in question cannot justify
the slightest critical suspicion of their genuineness."[11] For many reasons, we are
unwilling to accept changes found in the Septuagint (LXX) as any dependable
reason whatever for altering the text of the American Standard Version.
ELLICOTT, " (12) I spake also to Zedekiah . . .—There was, as we see in Jeremiah
28:13, a party of resistance in Judah also, and they, too, were trusting in delusive
prophecies of the overthrow of the Chaldæan monarchy. Sadly and earnestly the
prophet pleads with them in the question, “Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by
the sword . . .?
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 27:12 I spake also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all
57

58. these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and
serve him and his people, and live.
Ver. 12. I spake also to Zedekiah.] See on Jeremiah 27:1.
Bring your necks under the yoke.] Better do so than worse: if ye will not be active in
it, ye shall be passive; and that because ye would not take upon you the lighter yoke
of mine obedience.
“ Deus crudelius urit
Quos videt invitos succubuisse sibi. ”
- Tibul. Eleg. 1.
PETT, "Verses 12-22
Zedekiah Himself Is Also Warned Of The Necessity For Continued Submission To
The King Of Babylon (Jeremiah 27:12-22).
Zedekiah is also warned by Jeremiah of the consequences of not continuing to
submit to the King of Babylon. He was to ignore the promises of the prophets who
promised a quick deliverance and return of the previously stolen Temple vessels, for
they were untrue. In fact the truth was that disobedience to YHWH’s warning
would simply result in the remainder of the Temple furniture being transported to
Babylon.
Jeremiah 27:12
‘And I spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, “Bring
your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and
live.”
Jeremiah tells how he had spoken to Zedekiah in accordance with the same words
that he had sent to the nations. Following his own example they were to bring their
necks under the yoke of the King of Babylon and serve his people. By that means
they would be serving YHWH, and by that means they would survive.
13 Why will you and your people die by the
sword, famine and plague with which the Lord
58

59. has threatened any nation that will not serve the
king of Babylon?
BARNES 13-15, "Zedekiah was restless under the Babylonian yoke, and the false
prophets found only too ready a hearing from him. He is addressed in the plural because
his feelings were fully shared by the mass of the officers of state and by the people.
CLARKE, "Why will ye die - If ye resist the king of Babylon, to whom I have given
a commission against you, ye shall be destroyed by the sword and by famine; but if ye
submit, ye shall escape all these evils.
GILL, "Why will ye die, thou and thy people, the sword, by the famine, and
by the pestilence,.... Through a blockade of the Chaldean army, which would invade
their land, and besiege their city, upon a refusal to be subject to their yoke:
as the Lord hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of
Babylon? as the Lord has threatened shall be the case of any and everyone of the above
nations that should refuse to be tributary to him; of which, no doubt, Zedekiah and his
court had been apprized; see Jer_27:8.
JAMISON, "Why ... die — by running on your own ruin in resisting
Nebuchadnezzar after this warning (Eze_18:31).
CALVIN, "Here is a threatening added; for all means were used not only to invite
the Jews, but also to stimulate them to repent. The Prophet offered them pardon, if
they quietly submitted to be chastised by God. It was to be their life, he said, when
the Lord punished them according to his will. As they could not be sufficiently
moved by this kindness, he now adds, “See ye to it, for except ye receive the life
offered to you, you must inevitably perish. Therefore thou, Zedekiah, wilt
precipitate thyself with all thy people into eternal destruction, if ye continue to be
perverse and obstinate against God.”
We hence see that nothing was left undone by the Prophet to bend the Jews to
obedience and to lead them to repentance. By speaking of the sword, famine, and
pestilence, he intimates that there would be no end, until they were consumed by
God’s vengeance, except they suffered themselves, as we have said, to be thus
chastised by his paternal kindness, for this would be salutary to them.
59

60. TRAPP, "Jeremiah 27:13 Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the
famine, and by the pestilence, as the LORD hath spoken against the nation that will
not serve the king of Babylon?
Ver. 13. Why will ye die, thou and thy people?] Ec quae haec pertinacia? If thou
hast no mercy on thyself, yet pity the State, which is like to perish by thy pertinace.
Josephus highly commendeth Jeconiah for his yielding to go into captivity for the
safety of the city. Tertullian giveth this counsel to Scapula the persecutor, If thou
wilt not spare us, yet spare thyself; or, if not thyself, yet thy country, Carthage,
which is like to smoke for thy cruelty, for "God is the avenger of all such."
PETT, "Jeremiah 27:13
“Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the
pestilence, as YHWH has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king
of Babylon?”
But if they did not continue in submission, both the king and all his people would
die, by sword, famine and pestilence, in accordance to the words sent to the nations.
And that because their action would actually be rebellion against the will of YHWH.
Was that really what they wanted to happen?
14 Do not listen to the words of the prophets who
say to you, ‘You will not serve the king of
Babylon,’ for they are prophesying lies to you.
GILL, "Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets,.... The false
prophets, as the Targum; such bad kings always had about them, to whom they listened,
and which often proved of bad consequence to them:
that speak unto you, saying; as follows:
ye shall not serve the king of Babylon; ye ought not to do it, but cast off his yoke; to
which if ye do not willingly submit, he will never be able to force you to it:
for they prophesy a lie unto you; and therefore should not be hearkened to,
60

61. particularly when they promise safety from the king of Babylon.
HENRY 14-22, " In both these addresses he warns them against giving credit to the
false prophets that rocked them asleep in their security, because they saw that they loved
to slumber: “Hearken not to the words of the prophets (Jer_27:14), your prophets, Jer_
27:16. They are not God's prophets; he never sent them; they do not serve him, nor seek
to please him; they are yours, for they say what you would have them say, and aim at
nothing but to please you.” Two things their prophets flattered them into the belief of: -
1. That the power which the king of Babylon had gained over them should now shortly be
broken. They said (Jer_27:14), “You shall not serve the king of Babylon; you need not
submit voluntarily, for you shall not be compelled to submit.” This they prophesied in
the name of the Lord (Jer_27:15), as if God had sent them to the people on this errand,
in kindness to them, that they might not disparage themselves by an inglorious
surrender. But it was a lie. They said that God sent them; but that was false; he disowns
it: I have not sent them, saith the Lord. They said that they should never be brought into
subjection to the king of Babylon; but that was false too, the event proved it so. They said
that to hold out to the last would be the way to secure themselves and their city; but that
was false, for it would certainly end in their being driven out and perishing. So that it
was all a lie, from first to last; and the prophets that deceived the people with these lies
did, in the issue, but deceive themselves; the blind leaders and the blind followers fell
together into the ditch: That you might perish, you, and the prophets that prophesy
unto you, who will be so far from warranting your security that they cannot secure
themselves. Note, Those that encourage sinners to go on in their sinful ways will in the
end perish with them. 2. They prophesied that the vessels of the temple, which the king
of Babylon had already carried away, should now shortly be brought back (Jer_27:16);
this they fed the priests with the hopes of, knowing how acceptable it would be to them,
who loved the gold of the temple better than the temple that sanctified the gold. These
vessels were taken away when Jeconiah was carried captive into Babylon, Jer_27:20. We
have the story, and it is a melancholy one, 2Ki_24:13, 2Ki_24:15; 2Ch_36:10. All the
goodly vessels (that is, all the vessels of gold that were in the house of the Lord), with all
the treasures, were taken as prey, and brought to Babylon. This was grievous to them
above any thing; for the temple was their pride and confidence, and the stripping of that
was too plain an indication of that which the true prophet told them, that their God had
departed from them. Their false prophets therefore had no other way to make them easy
than by telling them that the king of Babylon should be forced to restore them in a little
while. Now here, (1.) Jeremiah bids them think of preserving the vessels that remained
by their prayers, rather than of bringing back those that were gone by their prophecies
(Jer_27:18): If they be prophets, as they pretend, and if the word of the Lord be with
them - if they have any intercourse with heaven and any interest there, let them improve
it for the stopping of the progress of the judgment; let them step into the gap, and stand
with their censer between the living and the dead, between that which is carried away
and that which remains, that the plague may be stayed; let them make intercession with
the Lord of hosts, that the vessels which are left go not after the rest. [1.] Instead of
prophesying, let them pray. Note, Prophets must be praying men; by being much in
prayer they must make it to appear that they keep up a correspondence with heaven. We
cannot think that those do, as prophets, ever hear thence, who do not frequently by
prayer send thither. By praying for the safety and prosperity of the sanctuary they must
make it to appear that, as becomes prophets, they are of a public spirit; and by the
success of their prayers it will appear that God favours them. [2.] Instead of being
61

62. concerned for the retrieving of what they had lost, they must bestir themselves for the
securing of what was left, and take it as a great favour if they can gain that point. When
God's judgments are abroad we must not seek great things, but be thankful for a little.
(2.) He assures them that even this point should not be gained, but the brazen vessels
should go after the golden ones, Jer_27:19, Jer_27:22. Nebuchadnezzar had found so
good a booty once that he would be sure to come again and take all he could find, not
only in the house of the Lord, but in the king's house. They shall all be carried to Babylon
in triumph, and there shall they be. But he concludes with a gracious promise that the
time should come when they should all be returned: Until the day that I visit them in
mercy, according to appointment, and then I will bring those vessels up again, and
restore them to this place, to their place. Surely they were under the protection of a
special Providence, else they would have been melted down and put to some other use;
but there was to be a second temple, for which they were to be reserved. We read
particularly of the return of them, Ezr_1:8. Note, Though the return of the church's
prosperity do not come in our time, we must not therefore despair of it, for it will come
in God's time. Though those who said, The vessels of the Lord's house shall shortly be
brought again, prophesied a lie (Jer_27:16), yet he that said, They shall at length be
brought again, prophesied the truth. We are apt to set our clock before God's dial, and
then to quarrel because they do not agree; but the Lord is a God of judgment, and it is fit
that we should wait for him.
JAMISON, "lie — (Jer_14:14).
CALVIN, "He repeats the same words which we have met with before; there is
therefore no need of dwelling long on them here. Yet the repetition was not
superfluous; for he had a hard contest with the false prophets, who had attained
great authority. As Jeremiah alone made an onset on the whole multitude, the
greater part of them might have objected and said, that in matters of such
perplexity there was nothing certain or clear. As therefore it was not easy to
convince the Jews who were disposed to believe the false prophets, it was necessary
to say the same thing often, as we shall also see hereafter. He adds, —
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 27:14 Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets
that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they
prophesy a lie unto you.
Ver. 14. Therefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets.] Quanta opus opera,
saith Oecolampadius. What a business it is to beat men off from false prophets and
seducers! But let the end and the evils they lead to be remembered. Cavete a
Melampyge.
PETT, "Jeremiah 27:14
“And do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You shall
62

63. not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy a lie to you.”
Thus they were not to listen to the words of the prophets who were so assiduously
lying to them and declaring that they could safely ‘not serve the King of Babylon’.
They were to recognise that their words were a lie.
15 ‘I have not sent them,’ declares the Lord. ‘They
are prophesying lies in my name. Therefore, I will
banish you and you will perish, both you and the
prophets who prophesy to you.’”
GILL, "For I have not sent them, saith the Lord,.... See Jer_23:21; yet they
prophesy a lie in my name; to deliver out a lie was a very wicked thing, sinful in them,
and fatal to others; but to make use of the name of the Lord, and cover it with that, and
back it with his authority, was much more wicked and abominable:
that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish; being driven out of their
own land, perish in another; which, though the false prophets did not intend by their
prophesying, yet such would be, and was, the issue of it:
ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto you; for it would end in the ruin and
destruction of them both; both of the false prophets, as the Targum here again calls
them, and those that listened to their prophecies; both would fall into the same ditch.
JAMISON, "in my name — The devil often makes God’s name the plea for lies
(Mat_4:6; Mat_7:22, Mat_7:23; Jer_27:15-20, the test whereby to know false prophets).
CALVIN, "He confirms what he had said, that they had not been sent by God. The
object is to shew the Jews, that they were not to receive thoughtlessly everything
presented to them under God’s name, but that they were to exercise discrimination
and judgment. This is a passage worthy of special notice, for the devil has ever
falsely assumed God’s name; and for all the errors and delusions which have ever
prevailed in the world, he has not obtained credit otherwise than by this false
pretense. And at this day we see that many are wilfully blind, because they think
they are excused before God if they can pretend ignorance, and they say that they
are not wickedly credulous, but they dare not make curious inquiries. As then there
63

64. are many who wilfully put on nooses and also wish to be deceived, we ought to
notice what the Prophet says here, that we ought to distinguish the true from false
prophets; for what purpose? even that we may receive them only, and depend on
their words who have been sent by the Lord.
It may be here asked, how comes this difference? It was formerly necessary for
prophets to be raised in a special manner, for it was a special gift to predict future
and hidden events, hence the prophetic was not an ordinary office like the
sacerdotal. That promise indeed ever continued in force,
“A prophet will I raise to thee from the midst of thy brethren.” (Deuteronomy
18:18.)
But though this was a perpetual favor conferred by God on the Israelites, yet the
prophets were ever called in a special manner; no one was to take this office except
endued with an extraordinary gift. Though Jeremiah was a priest, yet he was not on
that account a prophet; but God, as we have seen, made him a prophet. But with
regard to us, the matter is different, for God does not at this day predict hidden
events; but he would have us to be satisfied with his Gospel, for in it is made known
to us the perfection of wisdom. As then we live in “the fullness of time,” God does
not reveal prophecies so as to point out this or that thing to us in particular. We may
now obtain certainty as to the truth, if we form our judgment according to the Law,
and the Prophets, and the Gospel. There is indeed need of the spirit of discernment;
but we shall never go astray, if we depend on the mouth of God, and follow the
example of the Bereans, of whom Luke speaks in the Acts, who says, that they
carefully read the Scriptures, and searched whether things were as they were taught
by Paul. (Acts 17:11.) No wrong was done to Paul, when the disciples, in order to
confirm their faith, inquired whether his preaching was agreeable to the Law and to
the Prophets. So also now, all doctrines ought to be examined by us; and if we follow
this rule, we shall never go astray.
As to the ancient people, they could not, as it was said yesterday, be deceived, for the
prophets were only interpreters of the Law. With regard to future things, this or
that was never predicted by the prophets, unless connected with doctrine, which was
as it were the seasoning, and gave a relish to the prophecies; for when they promised
what was cheering, it was founded on the eternal covenant of God; and when they
threatened the people, they pointed out their sins, so that it was necessary for God to
execute his vengeance when their wickedness was incurable. Ever to be borne in
mind then is that which is said in Deuteronomy, that God tried his people whenever
he gave loose reins to false prophets, (Deuteronomy 13:3,) for every one who
sincerely and undissemblingly loves him shall be guided by his Spirit. This then is
the sure trial which God makes as to his faithful people, according to what Paul also
says, who refers to this testimony of Moses, that heresies arise in order that they
who are the faithful and sincere servants of God, might thereby shew what they
really are, (1 Corinthians 11:19;) for they do not fluctuate at every wind of doctrine,
but remain firm and constant in the pure obedience of faith. Rightly then does
64

65. Jeremiah say, that they who gave hope of impunity to the people, had not been sent
by the Lord; for every one had his own conscience as his judge.
He adds, They prophesy falsely in my name We see how sedulously and prudently
we ought to take heed lest the devil should fascinate us by his charms, especially
when the name of God is pretended. It is then not enough for us to hear, “Thus has
God spoken,” unless we are fully persuaded that those who use such a preface have
been called by him, and that they also afford a sure evidence of their call, so that we
may be certain that they are as it were the instruments of the Spirit. Ungodly men
will find here an occasion for clamoring, because God does in a manner make a
mock of the anxiety of men, for he might send angels from heaven, he might himself
speak; but when he employs men, and permits false prophets to boast of this word
and of that, while they wholly dissemble, he seems in this way as though he
designedly bewildered miserable men. But there is nothing better for us than to
acknowledge that our obedience is tried by God, when he addresses us by men; for
we know that nothing is more contrary to faith than pride, as also humility is the
true principle of faith and the real entrance into God’s kingdom. This then is the
reason why God makes use of men.
In the meantime, when impostors creep in and boast that they are true legitimate
prophets, it is indeed a grievous trial, and much to be feared; yet. God, as I have
said, will ever relieve us, provided we trust not to our own judgment, and assume
not to ourselves more than what is just and right, but look to him as the judge, and
submit ourselves to his word; and further, if we suffer ourselves to be ruled by his
Spirit, he will ever give us wisdom, which will enable us to distinguish between true
and false prophets. However this may be, we clearly see that it is no new thing for
Satan’s ministers to prophesy in God’s name, that is, falsely to assume his name,
when in reality and truth they are vain pretenders.
He afterwards adds, that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, as well as
they. Here Jeremiah reminded them, that the prophets who promised impunity
could not at length escape, but that they would have to suffer punishment not only
for their presumption, but also for those sins by which they, together with the whole
people, had already provoked the wrath of God; for their crime was twofold:
despising God, they had promised all liberty to indulge in sin; and they had also
dared to come forth and to pretend God’s name, though they had not been called,
nor did they bring, as we have said, any message from God. But the Prophet again
repeated, that such prophets were instigated by the devil’s artifice, in order to
aggravate God’s judgment; for the people, inebriated with joy, added sins to sins, as
security is wont to lead men to all kinds of wickedness. There is therefore nothing
more ruinous than for false teachers to flatter sinners, and so to cajole and wheedle
them as to make them to think that they have nothing to do with God; for the devil
rules then indeed, when men’s consciences are thus asleep in a deadly lethargy. He
afterwards adds, —
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 27:15 For I have not sent them, saith the LORD, yet they
65

66. prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye,
and the prophets that prophesy unto you.
Ver. 15. For they prophesy a lie.] When they speak a lie, they speak of their own, as
it is said of their father the devil. [John 8:44 Jeremiah 23:21-22]
PETT, "Jeremiah 27:15
“For I have not sent them, the word of YHWH, but they prophesy falsely in my
name, that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you, and the prophets who
prophesy to you.”
For on the assured word of YHWH they could be certain that YHWH had not sent
these prophets. Rather they were prophesying falsely in His Name. But it did have a
purpose, and that was in order that He might drive them out in accordance with His
purpose, so that both they and the prophets might perish. The lying prophets would
thus in their own way be bringing about YHWH’s will (compare 1 Kings 22:19-23).
It is a reminder of YHWH’s control over history both good and bad (compare the
opening of the seven-sealed book in Revelation 6 which conveyed the same message).
While the offer of repentance was always open it was quite clear that they had no
intention of responding, and therefore their doom was sealed.
16 Then I said to the priests and all these people,
“This is what the Lord says: Do not listen to the
prophets who say, ‘Very soon now the articles
from the Lord’s house will be brought back from
Babylon.’ They are prophesying lies to you.
CLARKE, "The vessels of the Lord’s house - Which had been carried away by
Nebuchadnezzar under the reigns of Jehoiakim and Jeconiah, 2Ch_36:7-10.
Shall now shortly be brought again - This is a lie. They shall not be restored till I
66

67. bring them up, Jer_27:22, which was after the captivity, when they were sent back by
Cyrus, the Lord inclining his heart to do it, Ezr_1:7, and Ezr_7:19.
GILL, "Also I spake to the priests, and to all this people, saying,.... From the
court he went to the temple, and spoke to the priests that were ministering there, and to
all the people that were assembled for divine worship; either at the ordinary time of it, or
at some one of the solemn feasts: this was a proper time and place to meet with the
people and the priests; which latter especially had a concern in what he had to say
concerning the vessels of the temple:
thus saith the Lord, hearken not to the words of your prophets that
prophesy unto you: your false prophets, as the Targum:
saying; as follows:
behold, the vessels of the Lord's house shall now shortly be brought again
from Babylon; which were carried thither, both in the times of Jehoiakim, and of
Jeconiah, 2Ch_36:7; these the false prophets gave out would in a short time be returned;
that the king of Babylon, either willingly and of his own accord, or being pressed or
forced to it, would send them back; so little reason had they to fear an invasion from
him, or captivity by him:
for they prophesy a lie unto you; that which is false, and will never be
accomplished, at least in any short time.
HENRY, "He addresses himself likewise to the priests and the people (Jer_27:16), to
persuade them to serve the king of Babylon, that they might live, and might prevent the
desolation of the city (Jer_27:17): “Wherefore should it be laid waste, as certainly it will
be if you stand it out?” The priests had been Jeremiah's enemies, and had sought his life
to destroy it, yet he approves himself their friend, and seeks their lives, to preserve and
secure them, which is an example to us to render good for evil. When the blood-thirsty
hate the upright, yet the just seek his soul, and the welfare of it, Pro_29:10. The matter
was far gone here; they were upon the brink of ruin, which they would not have been
brought to if they would have taken Jeremiah's counsel; yet he continues his friendly
admonitions to them, to save the last stake and manage that wisely, and now at length in
this their day to understand the things that belong to their peace, when they had but one
day to turn them in.
JAMISON, "The “vessels” had been carried away to Babylon in the reign of Jeconiah
(2Ki_24:13); also previously in that of Jehoiakim (2Ch_36:5-7).
K&D 16-22, "The priests and all the people are warned to give no belief to the false
prophesyings of a speedy restoration of the vessels carried off to Babylon. - Jer_27:16.
"Thus hath Jahveh said: Hearken not to the sayings of your prophets that prophesy
unto you: Behold, the vessels of Jahveh's house shall now shortly be brought again
from Babylon; for they prophesy a lie unto you. Jer_27:17. Hearken not unto them;
67

68. serve the king of Babylon and live; wherefore should this city become a desert? Jer_
27:18. But if they be prophets, and if the word of Jahveh be with them, let them now
make intercession to Jahveh of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of
Jahveh, and in the king's house, and in Jerusalem, go not to Babylon. Jer_27:19. For
thus saith Jahveh of hosts concerning the pillars and the [brazen] sea and the frames,
and concerning the other vessels that are left in this city, Jer_27:20. Which
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not away when he carried away captive
Jechoniah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, with all the
nobles of Judah and Jerusalem. Jer_27:21. For thus saith Jahveh of hosts, the God of
Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of Jahveh, and in the house of
the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem: Jer_27:22. To Babylon shall they be brought, and
there shall they remain until the day that I visit them, saith Jahveh, and carry them up,
and bring them back to this place."
Here Jeremiah gives King Zedekiah warning that the prophecies of a speedy end to
Chaldean bondage are lies, and that confidence in such lies will hurry on the ruin of the
state. He at the same time disabuses the priests of the hope raised by the false prophets,
that the vessels of the temple and of the palace that had been carried off at the time
Jechoniah was taken to Babylon will very soon be restored; and assures them that such
statements can only procure the destruction of the city, since their tendency is to seduce
king and people to rebellion, and rebellion against the king of Babylon means the
destruction of Jerusalem - a prophecy that was but too soon fulfilled. The vessels of the
temple, Jer_27:16, are the golden vessels Solomon caused to be made (1Ki_7:48.), which
Nebuchadnezzar had carried to Babylon, 2Ki_24:13. ‫ה‬ָ‫ל‬ ֶ‫ב‬ ָ‫בּ‬ ִ‫,מ‬ from towards Babylon, i.e.,
from Babylon, whither they had been taken; cf. Ew. §216, b. "Now shortly," lit., hastily or
speedily, i.e., ere long, cf. Jer_28:3, where the prophet Hananiah foretells the
restoration of them within two years, in opposition to Jeremiah's affirmation that the
exile will last seventy years.
(Note: These words are not given in lxx, and so Mov. and Hitz. pronounce them
spurious. Haev., on the other hand, and with greater justice, says (Introd. ii. 2), that
the lxx omitted the words, because, according to an Alexandrian legend, the temple
furniture was really very soon restored, even in Zedekiah's time, cf. Baruch 1:8ff.; so
that the false prophets were in the right. The passage cited from Baruch does not
indeed give a very rigorous proof of this. It alleges that the silver vessels which
Zedekiah had caused to be made after Jechoniah's exile had been brought back by
Baruch. But considering the innumerable arbitrary interferences of the lxx with the
text of Jeremiah, the omission of the words in question cannot justify the slightest
critical suspicion of their genuineness.)
To show more clearly the irreconcilableness of his own position with that of the false
prophets, Jeremiah further tells what true prophets, who have the word of Jahveh,
would do. They would betake themselves in intercession to the Lord, seeking to avert yet
further calamity or punishment, as all the prophets sent by God, including Jeremiah
himself, did, cf. Jer_7:16. They should endeavour by intercession to prevent the vessels
that are still left in Jerusalem from being taken away. The extraordinary expression
‫י‬ ִ‫תּ‬ ְ‫ל‬ ִ‫ב‬ ְ‫ל‬ ‫אוּ‬ֹ‫ב‬ has probably come from the omission of Jod from the verb, which should be
read ‫אוּ‬ֹ‫ב‬ָ‫י‬. As it stands, it can only be imperative, which is certainly not suitable. ‫י‬ ִ‫תּ‬ ְ‫ל‬ ִ‫ב‬ ְ‫ל‬
is usually construed with the infinitive, but occasionally also with the temp. fin.; with the
imperf., which is what the sense here demands, in Exo_20:20; with the perf., Jer_
23:14. - Of the temple furniture still remaining, he mentions in Jer_27:19 as most
68

69. valuable the two golden pillars, Jachin and Boaz, 1Ki_7:15., the brazen sea, 1Ki_7:23.,
and ‫ת‬ ‫נ‬ ‫כ‬ ְ‫מּ‬ ַ‫,ה‬ the artistic waggon frames for the basins in which to wash the sacrificial
flesh, 1Ki_7:27.; and he declares they too shall be carried to Babylon, as happened at the
destruction of Jerusalem, 2Ki_25:13. ( ‫ת‬ ‫ל‬ְ‫ג‬ ַ‫בּ‬ for ‫ת‬ ‫ל‬ְ‫ג‬ ַ‫ה‬ ְ‫).בּ‬
(Note: The statement in Jer_27:19-22 is wide and diffuse; it is therefore
condensed in the lxx, but at the same time mutilated. From the fact Mov., with Hitz.
agreeing thereto, concludes that the Hebr. text has been expanded by means of
glosses. Graf has already shown in reply to this, that the hand of a later glossator
interpolating materials from Jer_52:17; 2Ki_24:13 and 2Ki_24:1 is not betrayed in
the extended account of the furniture remaining, and of the occasion on which it was
left behind. He goes on to show that it is rather the editorial hand of Baruch than the
hand of the glossator that is to be presumed from the fact that, in consequence of the
narrative part of Jer_27:20, Jer_27:19 is repeated in Jer_27:21; and from the further
fact that it is impossible here to discriminate the interpolated from the original
matter. Graf has also so conclusively proved the worthlessness of the distinguishing
marks of the glossator adduced by Mov. and Hitz., that we adopt in full his
argument. Such marks are (we are told), (1) the scriptio plena of ‫מכונות‬ here, as
contrasted with Jer_52:17; 2Ki_25:13; 2Ch_4:14, and of ‫,יכוניה‬ as against 2Ch_24:1;
2Ch_28:4; 2Ch_29:2; and yet the interpolations in Jer_27:19 and Jer_27:20 are said
to have been taken directly from Jer_52:17 and Jer_24:1. (2) The expression ‫רים‬ֹ‫ח‬,
which is alleged not to have come into use till the exile. But the fact of its standing
here and in Jer_39:6 is enough to show it to have been earlier in use; cf. also 1Ki_
21:8, 1Ki_21:11; and since it is not used in Jer_24:1 and Jer_29:2, it is certain that it
has not been got from there. (3) The "slip-shod" ‫,וירושׁלים‬ Jer_27:21, for ‫,ובירושׁלים‬
Jer_27:18, which is, however, occasioned simply by the preceding accusative of
place, '‫בית‬ ‫יהוה‬ ‫וגו‬ (Jer_27:18 also ‫ית‬ ֵ‫ב‬ ְ‫בּ‬ ‫).)יהוה‬
CALVIN, "Jeremiah, as we have seen, did not deal privately with the king alone, for
he did not separate him from the people; but as he had directed his words chiefly to
him, he therefore expresses now what might have seemed obscure, that though he
had begun with the king, he yet included all the Jews. It was indeed necessary to
begin with the king, for we know that earthly kings think much of their own dignity,
and that the whole people are dependent on their will. Hence Hosea condemned
them, because they rendered a too willing obedience to royal edicts, and worshipped
God according to what it pleased the king and his counsellors to dictate. (Hosea
5:11 : Micah 6:16.) As then the royal name served to dazzle the eyes of the simple,
Jeremiah was bidden to address first the king himself; but he now shews that the
priests and the people were included.
It was indeed like something monstrous, that the priests, whom God had designed to
be the interpreters of his Law, should have become so stupid as thoughtlessly to
receive, together with the common people, what they had heard from the false
prophets. This surely was by no means compatible with that high encomium by
which they are honored by Malachi, that the priest’s lips should keep knowledge,
69

70. and that from him the Law is to be sought, because he is the messenger of the God
of hosts. (Malachi 2:7.) As then they were the guardians of the Law and of
knowledge, as they were messengers from God himself to the people, how was it that
their stupidity was so monstrous, that they did not distinguish between truth and
falsehood, but were led astray, together with the most ignorant, by what the false
prophets delivered!
This ought to be carefully noticed, that we may not at this day be too much
disturbed, when we see the pastoral office assumed by ignorant asses, and that those
who are called, and wish to be thought ministers, are so inexperienced in Scripture
that they are deficient as to the first elements of religion. And we see the very thing
happening at this day especially under the Papacy, as existed among the ancient
people; for the Papal bishops are for the most part extremely stupid and
presumptuous. There are to be found many husbandmen and artisans, who know
nothing of learning, but have only heard what is obscure and indistinct, and yet they
can speak better on the general principles of faith than these haughty prelates in all
their splendor. How is this? even because the just reward for their sloth is rendered
to them. They are verily ignorant of what should qualify them to be bishops, and yet
they glory in the name! Yea, though they do not think that Episcopacy consists in
anything but in revenues, and also in vain symbols, such as to be mitred, to wear an
episcopal ring, and to exhibit other like trumperies, they yet suppose themselves to
be a sort of half-gods. Hence it is, that God exposes them to the utmost reproach.
The same was the case with the priests under the Law, as Jeremiah now shews; for
they were not ashamed of their ignorance, but encouraged the people to believe the
false prophets; so at this day do the bishops; they scud forth their monks and such
like brawlers, who run here and there to deceive the ignorant people, and they
secure a hearing to them. And what is the burden of their message? to bid men to
attend to the holy Catholic Church; and what is the Catholic Church? The Synod
which the Pope assembles, where the mitred bishops sit; for what purpose? That
they may know what pleases these brawlers, to whom is committed the office of
disputing. We hence see that all things under the Papacy are at this day in great
disorder; and yet this horrible disorder differs nothing from that of old. And it is, as
I have said, what ought to be particularly noticed, that our faith may not fail, when
we see all things in a confusion and hardly any order remaining.
Now also is added a clearer explanation, — that the Jews were warned, lest they
should receive the false prophecy respecting the restoration of the vessels of the
Temple; for in order to render the people secure as to the future, the false prophets
boasted in this manner, “The splendor of the Temple shall shortly be restored; for
the vessels, which Nebuchadnezzar has taken away, shall return together with the
captives, and everything decayed shall be repaired.” But Jeremiah said, that what
they promised was false; “Believe them not,” he says, “when they say to you, Behold,
the vessels of Jehovah’s house shall be brought back, (or restored, that is, shall
return hither;) for the king of Babylon shall either be constrained to restore what he
has taken away, or he will of his own accord restore it.” And they also added, Now
soon, in order that the shortness of time might be all additional chain to captivate
70

71. the minds of the people; for had a long time been mentioned, the prophecy would
have been less plausible and by no means acceptable to them; but they said, “Almost
within a day the vessels of the Temple shall be brought back here.” And Jeremiah
also, as we have already seen, and shall presently see again, did not deprive the
people of every hope, but had assigned seventy years for their exile. Now these
prophets, in order to dissipate this fear, said, — “Shortly shall the vessels be
restored;” but he declared that they prophesied falsely to them. It follows —
COFFMAN, ""And I spake to the priests and to all the people, saying, Thus saith
Jehovah: Hearken not to the words of your prophets that prophesy unto you,
saying, Behold the vessels of Jehovah's house shall now shortly be brought again
from Babylon; for they prophesy a lie unto you. Hearken not unto them; serve the
king of Babylon, and live: wherefore should this city become a desolation? But if
they be prophets, and if the word of Jehovah be with them, let them now make
intercession to Jehovah of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of
Jehovah, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to
Babylon."
What a courageous, blunt, overwhelming challenge this is. Jeremiah did not merely
call the false prophets, diviners, soothsayers, etc. liars; but he did so to their face,
and laid down the challenge that they were not merely lying when they prophesied
the speedy return of the golden vessels from Babylon, but that if the false teachers
had one word of truth in them they would be praying that the remaining "vessels"
would not also be carried away to Babylon, a prophecy which Jeremiah at once
pronounced in their hearing, namely, that the remaining vessels indeed, not merely
of the temple, but of the king's house and of all Jerusalem also, would also all be
carried to Babylon! (See next paragraph).
John Bright in the Anchor Bible commentary stated that "vessels" in Jeremiah
27:16 is an inadequate word, because much more was meant, as indicated in
Jeremiah 27:19, below.[12]
As Green observed, "Jeremiah's conflict with the false prophets was growing more
and more acute."[13]
ellicott, "(16) Behold the vessels of the Lord’s house . . .—The importance attached
to this specific prediction, on which apparently the false prophets staked their
credit, can easily be understood. The vessels referred to are those which had been
carried off by Nebuchadnezzar in his first invasion, and before the accession of
Zedekiah (2 Kings 24:13; 2 Chronicles 36:7). The people mourned over the absence
of what they had so prized among the treasures of the Temple, and the prophets
accordingly soothed them with predictions that they would before long be brought
back. In marked contrast to these prophecies of their restoration “shortly,” we find
them brought out for use at Belshazzar’s feast, towards the close of the Babylonian
exile (Daniel 1:2; Daniel 5:2), and restored to the Jews by Cyrus, after the capture of
Babylon (Ezra 1:7). In the apocryphal book of Baruch (1:8) we find a tradition that
71

72. some of them (silver, not gold) were restored in the reign of Zedekiah, but this can
hardly be regarded as historical. It is noticeable that the restoration is connected, in
that narrative, with the agency of Baruch himself, and it is scarcely probable that he
would have brought about a fulfilment of the prediction of the false prophets, who
were his Master’s enemies.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 27:16 Also I spake to the priests and to all this people, saying,
Thus saith the LORD Hearken not to the words of your prophets that prophesy
unto you, saying, Behold, the vessels of the LORD’S house shall now shortly be
brought again from Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you.
Ver. 16. Behold, the vessels of the Lord’s house, &c.] Notorious impudence! but it
hath ever been the lot of the Church to be pestered with such frontless dissolute
fellows, who dare affirm things flat opposite to the truth, and flatter men in their sin
to their utter ruin. Those who are of God can do nothing against the truth, but for
the truth. [2 Corinthians 13:8]
WHEDON, " 16. Vessels of the Lord’s house — Made by Solomon (1 Kings 7:48-50)
and carried to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. 2 Kings 24:13. They were valuable, not
only because of their intrinsic worth, being made of gold, but especially because of
their representative character, being devoted to religions uses, so that for them to
fall into the possession of a heathen power, and be carried away to a heathen land,
was as when the ark of God was captured by the Philistines.
Now shortly — Speedily.
From Babylon — Literally, from Babylon-ward.
PETT, "Jeremiah 27:16
‘Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, “Thus says YHWH. Do not
listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, saying, ‘Behold, the
vessels of YHWH’s house will now shortly be brought again from Babylon,’ for they
prophesy a lie to you.”
He also spoke to the priests and all the people who were there warning them not to
listen to the prophecies of the prophets who promised that the vessels of YHWH’s
house, which had previously been taken away in the days of Jehoiakim/Jehoiachin,
would shortly be returned from Babylon, for it was all a lie. (They would eventually
be returned, but that was a long way ahead. It was not to happen within the near
future). The promises being made by the false prophets clearly included a promise
of the removal of the Babylonian yoke, which would be why the vessels were
returned. It is noticeable that no one ventured to suggest who would be responsible
for the return of the vessels.
PULPIT, "Jeremiah 27:16-22
72

73. The warning to the priests and to the rest of the people. The last four verses of this
section appear in a much shortened form in the Septuagint, and it must be admitted
that the description is singularly lengthy. It is, therefore, quite conceivable that this
is one of the cases in which the Hebrew text has been disfigured by willful
interpolation. On the other hand, it is also possible that the description was filled
out by an editor, e.g. by Baruch, conscientiously for the benefit of later readers.
17 Do not listen to them. Serve the king of
Babylon, and you will live. Why should this city
become a ruin?
GILL, "Hearken not unto them,.... The false prophets:
serve the king of Babylon, and live; pay homage and tribute to him; which is the
way to live in your own land, and enjoy the benefits of that, and of the temple worship;
which, if not, you will be utterly deprived of:
wherefore should this city be laid waste? as it certainly will, should you rebel
against the king of Babylon; and as it was in a few years after, when they did.
CALVIN, "It is not to be wondered at that Jeremiah said the same things so often,
for, as we have seen, he had to contend with false prophets. When any one speaks,
and there be no dispute and no adversary opposing him, he may calmly deal with
the teachable and confine himself to a few words; but when contention arises, and
opponents appear, who may seek to subvert what we say, then we must exercise
more care, for they who are thus driven different ways, will not be satisfied with a
few words. As, then, Jeremiah saw that the people were fluctuating, he found it
necessary, in order to confirm them, to use many words; not that prolixity is in itself
sufficient to produce conviction; yet there is no doubt but that Jeremiah spoke
efficiently so as to influence at least some portion of the people. Besides, it was
necessary to dwell more expressly on a subject not very plausible; the false prophets
were heard with favor, and the greater part greedily devoured what was set forth by
them; for the hope of impunity is always pleasing and sought after by the world.
But what did Jeremiah say? Serve ye the king of Babylon; that is, “No better
condition awaits you than to pay tribute to the king of Babylon; be subject to his
73

74. authority, and patiently endure whatever he may prescribe to you.”This was indeed
a very hard speech; for subjection was not unaccompanied with reproach; besides,
he bade them to surrender themselves to a most cruel enemy, as though they were to
expose their life to him; and lastly, they were to risk the danger of being spoiled of
all that they had. What Jeremiah taught then was very much disliked, as he thus
exhorted the people to endure all things. This was, then, the reason why he had not
declared in a few and plain words what God had committed to him; it was difficult
to persuade the people to undergo the yoke of the king of Babylon, and to submit to
his tyranny.
We hence see that there were two very just reasons why the Prophet insisted so
much on this one subject, and confirmed what he might have briefly said without
any prolixity; Hearken, ye to them, he says; serve ye the king of Babylon and ye
shall live (188) We must again bear in mind what we said yesterday, that patiently to
humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand is the best remedy for mitigating
punishment, and that in this way punishment is turned into medicine; so on the
other hand, when we are like refractory and ferocious horses, whatever punishment
God inflicts on us, is only a prelude to endless destruction. Let us then lay hold on
this truth and constantly meditate on it, — that our punishment becomes vivifying
to us, when we acknowledge God to be a righteous judge and suffer ourselves to be
corrected by him. But I refer only briefly to this subject now, for I spoke of it more
at large yesterday.
He adds, Why should this city be a desolation? He set before them the city in which
God’s sanctuary was, and by the sight of it he tried to turn them to repentance; for
it was extremely base to harden themselves against the warnings of the prophets, so
as to cause the Temple of God to be demolished, and also the holy city to be reduced
to a waste, in which God designed to have his dwelling, as he had said,
“This is my rest for ever.” (Psalms 132:14)
In short, he declared to the Jews that a most awful condemnation awaited them, if
they suffered the city to perish through their own fault, and that they would be the
authors of their own ruin, if they undertook not the yoke of the king of Babylon. It
follows —
ellicott, " (17) Hearken not unto them.—The prophecy of the restoration of the
vessels of the Temple was clearly not a mere prediction. It had been used as an
incentive to rebellion. “Make one last effort,” the prophets virtually said, “and the
spoiler shall be compelled to disgorge his booty.” The prophet saw that such an
effort would but hasten the utter destruction of the Temple and the city.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 27:17 Hearken not unto them; serve the king of Babylon, and
live: wherefore should this city be laid waste?
Ver. 17. Hearken not unto them.] Life and death is let in by the ear. [Isaiah 55:3]
74

75. Take heed, therefore, what ye hear.
Serve the king of Babylon.] And so long as ye may have liberty of conscience upon
any reasonable terms, be content; and not, as the bird in the cage, which, because
pent up, beateth herself.
PETT, "Jeremiah 27:17
“Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should this city
become a desolation?”
Jeremiah therefore tells them not to listen to the prophets, but to faithfully serve the
King of Babylon, and thus be allowed to live. Why should they act foolishly by doing
something which could only result in the desolation of their city?
18 If they are prophets and have the word of the
Lord, let them plead with the Lord Almighty that
the articles remaining in the house of the Lord
and in the palace of the king of Judah and in
Jerusalem not be taken to Babylon.
GILL, "But if they be prophets, and if the word of the Lord be with them,....
The true prophets of the Lord are sent by him, and have his word put into them:
let them now make intercession to the Lord of hosts: use their interest with him,
as they must have one, if they are true prophets; let them pray unto him, who doubtless
will hear them; and this will be acting in character, for prophets ought to be praying
persons; and this will turn to some good account:
that the vessels which are left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of
the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon; instead of prophesying
about the return of what are gone, let them pray for the preservation and continuance of
what are left, that they do not go also; of which there was great danger, yea, certainty, in
case of non-submission to, and rebellion against, the king of Babylon; there were some
vessels of the sanctuary which yet remained, as well as others in the king's palace, and in
75

76. the houses of the noble and rich men in Jerusalem; for the keeping of which they would
do well to show a proper concern, and make use of proper means; and nothing more
effectual than prayer to God; and, next to that, submission to the Chaldean yoke.
JAMISON, "at Jerusalem — that is, in other houses containing such vessels,
besides the house of God and the king’s palace. Nebuzara-dan, captain of the guard
under Nebuchadnezzar, carried all away (2Ki_25:13-17; 2Ch_36:18). The more costly
vessels had been previously removed in the reigns of Jehoiakim and Jeconiah.
CALVIN, "Here the Prophet laughs to scorn the foolish confidence with which the
false prophets were swollen, when they promised all happiness in time to come. He
hence says, that they were not to be believed as to the prosperity of which they
prophesied, but that on the contrary they ought to have dreaded a most grievous
punishment.
He then says, If they are prophets, let them intercede with Jehovah, that what still
remains may not be taken away from Jerusalem. They promised the return of the
vessels, which had been already carried away to Babylon; and yet what still
remained in the Temple and in the palace of the king and in the whole city, was to
be removed to Babylon. We now perceive the Prophet’s design; he compares the
future with the past, and shews that these impostors foolishly promised some better
state of things, even when God’s heavy judgment was impending over them; for the
city and the Temple were doomed to entire ruin. The verb ‫פגע‬ , pego, means to meet,
to go to meet, and is taken metaphorically in the sense of interceding; for he who
meets one as an intercessor, in a manner restrains the opponent; and the Scripture
uses this word, when it speaks of the saints as supplicating God; the proper word is
interceding. (189)
From this passage we learn that these two things are united — teaching and
praying. Then God would have him whom he has set a teacher in his Church, to be
assiduous in prayer. And so the Apostles said, when they spoke of appointing
deacons, that they could not attend to tables; for they said that they were sufficiently
engaged in teaching, and they mentioned also prayers. (Acts 6:2.) The same also we
learn from this place, where Jeremiah ascribes the office of interceding to God’s
true and faithful servants who conscientiously discharged the office of teaching; If
they be prophets, he says, let them intercede with Jehovah, that the remaining
vessels be not taken away. Let us at the same time notice the definition he gives; for
by this he also shews who are to be counted true prophets, even those who have the
word of God, as we have found elsewhere,
“The Prophet who has a dream, and who has my true word, let him speak my
word.” (Jeremiah 23:28)
We said by these words of the Prophet it may be determined who they are who
deserve to be called prophets, even those who have the word of God. Jeremiah
76

77. confirms the same here when he says, If they are prophets, and if the word of
Jehovah is with them These two clauses ought to be read together, for the latter is
exegetic, or explanatory of the former. But I cannot now finish the whole, I must
therefore defer the rest till to-morrow.
ELLICOTT, "(18) But if they be prophets . . .—The rivals of Jeremiah had, as has
been said, staked their credit upon the return of the vessels that had already been
taken. He stakes his On the prediction that what had been spared in the first
invasion should be taken on the second. They had better use their gift of the Spirit,
if they had any, in interceding for their preservation.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 27:18 But if they [be] prophets, and if the word of the LORD be
with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts, that the vessels
which are left in the house of the LORD, and [in] the house of the king of Judah,
and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon.
Ver. 18. Let them make intercession to the Lord of hosts.] Let them pray in the Holy
Ghost, by whom they pretend to be inspired. Let us see what answer. So Elias called
upon the Baalites to call aloud unto their god; and forasmuch as he heard them not,
the people were satisfied that they were false prophets. God will fulfil what he hath
foretold; but then he looketh that his servants should make intercession. Elias had
foretold Ahab that there should be store of rain after a long drought; but then he
went up into Mount Carmel to pray for that rain. I came for thy prayer, said the
angel to Daniel. God’s prophets are his favourites, and may have anything of him.
PETT, "Jeremiah 27:18
“But if they are prophets, and if the word of YHWH is with them, let them now
make intercession to YHWH of hosts, that the vessels which are left in the house of
YHWH, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, do not go to
Babylon.”
Rather, if the prophets were true prophets so that the word of YHWH was in them
(the word which was spoken as in Jeremiah 27:21), let them make intercession that
the vessels which still remained in the Temple and in the king’s house, remain there
and not be carried off to Babylon. This was a prayer that would be heard if they set
aside any idea of rebellion. And it was the wise step to take.
PULPIT, "But if they be prophets, etc. The "false prophets," so Jeremiah declares,
have neglected one of the principal functions of a prophet, viz. intercessory prayer
(comp. on Jeremiah 7:16). Seeing that a part of the sacred vessels had been carried
to Babylon, ell true prophets ought to intercede with Jehovah that those still left
might be spared. The end was that the remaining vessels were carried off on the
capture of Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:13).
77

78. 19 For this is what the Lord Almighty says about
the pillars, the bronze Sea, the movable stands
and the other articles that are left in this city,
CLARKE, "Concerning the pillars - Two brazen columns placed by Solomon in
the pronaos or portico of the temple, eighteen cubits high, and twelve in circumference,
1Ki_7:16-22; Jer_52:11.
The sea - The brazen sea, ten cubits in diameter, and thirty in circumference. It
contained water for different washings in the Divine worship, and was supported on
twelve brazen oxen. Perhaps these are what are called the bases here. See the parallel
places at 2Ki_25:13 (note), etc.; Jer_52:17 (note), Jer_52:20-21 (note), and the notes on
them.
GILL, "For thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars,.... The pillars of
brass that stood in the temple; the one called Boaz, and the other Jachin, 1Ki_7:15;
and concerning the sea; the sea of molten brass, which stood upon twelve oxen, 1Ki_
7:23;
and concerning the bases: the ten bases, which also were made of brass, 1Ki_7:27;
and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city; in the king's
palace, and in the houses of the noblemen, and of the rich and wealthy inhabitants of
Jerusalem.
HENRY 19-22, "He assures them that even this point should not be gained, but the
brazen vessels should go after the golden ones, Jer_27:19, Jer_27:22. Nebuchadnezzar
had found so good a booty once that he would be sure to come again and take all he
could find, not only in the house of the Lord, but in the king's house. They shall all be
carried to Babylon in triumph, and there shall they be. But he concludes with a gracious
promise that the time should come when they should all be returned: Until the day that
I visit them in mercy, according to appointment, and then I will bring those vessels up
again, and restore them to this place, to their place. Surely they were under the
protection of a special Providence, else they would have been melted down and put to
some other use; but there was to be a second temple, for which they were to be reserved.
We read particularly of the return of them, Ezr_1:8. Note, Though the return of the
78

79. church's prosperity do not come in our time, we must not therefore despair of it, for it
will come in God's time. Though those who said, The vessels of the Lord's house shall
shortly be brought again, prophesied a lie (Jer_27:16), yet he that said, They shall at
length be brought again, prophesied the truth. We are apt to set our clock before God's
dial, and then to quarrel because they do not agree; but the Lord is a God of judgment,
and it is fit that we should wait for him.
JAMISON, "(Jer_52:17, Jer_52:20, Jer_52:21).
CALVIN, "Jeremiah said, in the passage we considered yesterday, that it was more
to be desired that God should keep what remained at Jerusalem, than that what had
been taken away should be restored, for the time of punishment had not yet passed
away; and thus he condemned the false teachers, because they had presumptuously
and boldly promised a quick return as to the king as well as to those who had been
led with him into exile, he now confirms the same thing, and says that what
remained as yet at Jerusalem was already destined for their enemies the
Babylonians, and would become their prey. Nebuchadnezzar had in part spared the
Temple and the city; he had taken away chiefly the precious vessels, but had not
entirely spoiled the Temple of its ornaments. As, then, some splendor was still to be
seen there, the Jews ought to have learned that he had acted kindly towards them.
He now says, that the Temple and the city would be destroyed; and this may be
gathered from his words when he says, that there would be nothing remaining.
Thus saith Jehovah concerning the pillars, etc. There is no doubt but that Solomon
spent much money on the pillars, as the Scripture commends the work. He adds,
concerning the sea, which was a very large vessel, for from it the priests took water
to wash themselves whenever they entered the Temple to perform their sacred
duties. And though it was made of brass, it was yet of no small value on account of
its largeness; and for this reason it was called sea. He mentions, in the third place,
the bases (190) Jerome reads, “To the bases,” for the preposition is ‫,אל‬ but it means
often of, or concerning, as it is well known. He then declares what God had
determined as to the pillars as well as the sea and the bases. There were, indeed,
other vessels besides; but he specified these in order that the king, and also the
people, might know that nothing would be left remaining in the Temple.
COFFMAN, ""For thus saith Jehovah of hosts concerning the pillars, and
concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the
vessels that are left in the city, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not,
when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiachim, king of Judah, from
Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem: yea, thus saith
Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house
of Jehovah, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem: They shall be
carried to Babylon, and there shall they be, until the day that I visit them, saith
Jehovah; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place."
79

80. Behold, what a magnificent predictive prophecy we have here:
(1) the remaining treasures of the temple, the king's house, and the city of Jerusalem
shall also be carried away to Babylon;
(2) the vessels shall not be destroyed there, but shall be preserved to that day when
God will visit them; and
(3) He will indeed visit them and restore them to Jerusalem at the time when his
Divine Will may desire to do so!
Did it happen? Certainly! Was this prophecy written after the event? Ridiculous!
The man who stated this was wearing an ox yoke; and if it had all already
happened, he would never have been dressed like that! He was wearing the yoke
only as an effort to persuade those sinners to believe the truth. They did not believe
it; and of course they would have believed it if it had already come to pass.
Of course, the infidel critics never stop trying to "prove" the prophecy came after
the captivity. As Smith said, "They seized upon the word `nobles' which Jeremiah
used here; and they claimed that it was a word that came into use after the
captivity; but that is not true.
Jeremiah used it again in Jeremiah 39:6; Isaiah used it Isaiah 34:12; and in 1 Kings
21:8, the word is used of the nobles of Samaria. In fact it was a word in very
common usage both in Chaldee and Syriac."[14]
"Then will I bring them up and restore them to this place ..." (Jeremiah 27:22). Ash
stated that, "The Septuagint (LXX) says nothing about the eventual restoration of
the treasures, nor does it offer any restoration hope. Some argue that the Septuagint
(LXX) may represent the original text, since a restoration hope would be out of
place in an oracle of this tenor."[15] We regret that respected commentators would
include a canard of this kind in their commentaries. Of course, it is true that "some
argue" in this manner; but no believer can accept such false arguments.
Why all of this attention to the LXX? The critics glorify it when it supports their
denials; but when it contradicts their denials, they seem to be totally ignorant of its
existence. For example, the Septuagint (LXX) properly translates the Hebrew word
[~`almah] as The Virgin; but has anyone ever heard of a radical critic accepting
that?
Two radical critical dictums are respected in such a comment: (1) that the shorter
text of similar ones is "original," a foolish rule that has never been proved and is
clearly untrue in many cases; and (2) that a promise of blessing cannot be included
in a prophecy of condemnation, disaster, or punishment. This rule also is false.
Christ promised heaven in the same passage that speaks of hell; and we refuse to
accept a rule that would butcher almost every statement Jesus Christ ever uttered.
80

81. A hundred years before Jeremiah was born, Isaiah promised the "return of the
remnant," and proved the prophecy by naming one of his sons, "A Remnant Shall
Return." Did Jeremiah know about that promise? Indeed he did; and can any one
deny that this would have been an appropriate time for him to mention it and to
embellish the thought of it with the additional prophecy that the sacred vessels of
the temple would also return?
ELLICOTT, "(19) For thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the pillars . . .—The
“pillars” referred to were probably the two bronze columns known as Jachin and
Boaz, on each side of the porch of the Temple (1 Kings 7:21). The molten “sea,”
standing on twelve oxen as its supporters, is described in 1 Kings 7:23-26. The ten
“bases” for the ten lavers, with their engraved work of cherubim, lions, and palm-
trees, are described in 1 Kings 7:27-37. The work of plunder was apparently
confined, in the first instance, to the more portable vessels—cups, flagons, and the
like. The absence of the specific list of the vessels in the LXX. version has led some
critics to the conclusion that it was a later addition to the Hebrew text.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 27:19 For thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the pillars,
and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the
vessels that remain in this city,
Ver. 19. Concerning the sea, and concerning the pillars, &c.] Of these, see 1 Kings
7:15; 1 Kings 7:23; 1 Kings 7:27.
And concerning the residue of the vessels.] All the goodly plate, whether sacred or
profane, that the moderation of the conqueror had left in the city. (a)HEDON,
"Verse 19
19. The pillars — Jachin and Boaz. 1 Kings 7:21.
The sea — That is, the brazen sea. 1 Kings 7:23.
The bases — The frames or pedestals which supported the basins for washing the
sacrificial flesh. 1 Kings 7:27.
PETT, "Jeremiah 27:19-20
“For thus says YHWH of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and
concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels which are left in this
city, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take, when he carried away
captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon,
and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem,”
For YHWH was not prophesying the return of vessels from Babylon. Rather He was
prophesying concerning all that still remained in Judah, the ‘sea’, the bases, and the
81

82. residue of the sacred vessels which had not been taken when Jehoiachin and so
many of the leading citizens, including its nobles throughout Judah had been taken
away by Nebuchadnezzar.
PULPIT, "This and the two following verses are thus given in the Septuagint: "For
thus saith the Lord … and the rest of the vessels which the king of Babylon took not,
when he carried Jeconiah captive from Jerusalem; they shall come to Babylon, saith
the Lord." This shortened form throws a light on the fact of the absence of "now
shortly" in Jeremiah 27:16 (see note). The pillars, etc.; i.e. the two bronze pillars
called Jachin and Boaz (1 Kings 7:21). The sea; i.e. the molten "sea," or basin (1
Kings 7:23). The bases (1 Kings 7:27).
20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not
take away when he carried Jehoiachin[b] son of
Jehoiakim king of Judah into exile from
Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the nobles of
Judah and Jerusalem—
GILL, "Which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not,.... For he seems only
to have taken the vessels of gold, and left the vessels of brass, as the above were; see
2Ki_24:13;
when he carried away captive Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of
Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and
Jerusalem; of which see 2Ki_24:12.
CALVIN, "And he also adds, The residue of the vessels which remains, in this city
By adding, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not away, he indirectly
condemned the Jews, because they did not acknowledge that the cruelty of their
enemy had been moderated by divine power. For we know how cruel were
Babylonians, and how insatiable was their avarice, and that nothing would have
been left in the Temple had not their hands been in a manner restrained by the
hidden power of God. The Jews ought to have duly considered this, and therefore
the Prophet alludes to their ingratitude when he says, that Nebuchadnezzar had not
taken away the vessels when yet he led captive the king and all the chief men, both
82

83. of the city and the whole land. There is, indeed, to be understood here a comparison
between the less and the greater, as though he had said, “Nebuchadnezzar would
not have been so gentle had not God moderated his spirit, for he spared not your
king, he led into exile all your chief men; how, then, was it that he left anything to
remain in your city, and that the pillars were not taken away? Did he despise them?
They have been polished with exquisite skill, and the materials are very costly. Ye
hence see that God gave you a proof of his mercy, for some things still remain safe in
the city as well as in the Temple; yet ye disregard this so great a benefit bestowed on
you by God; what, then, will at length happen to you?” We now perceive the
Prophet’s design in these words when he says, that the vessels were not taken away,
even when the king was taken captive, and when the chief men of the land were led
into exile.
Useful instruction may also be hence gathered. Whenever God chastises us, let us
ever consider that he does not proceed to extremities; for the cause of murmuring,
and often of despair, is this, — because we think that he deals with us with extreme
rigor. But this happens through our sinful and perverted judgment; for God never
afflicts us so severely but that some portion of kindness and of moderation ever
appears; in a word, his judgments are always founded on his goodness. Were any
one, therefore, rightly to call to mind how far he is from suffering extreme evils, it
would conduce much to alleviate his sorrows. But when we reject every knowledge
of God’s goodness, and only consider his severity, we either murmur or in a manner
become furious against him. But this passage teaches us, that when God leaves some
residue to us, it is an evidence of his paternal favor, and that therefore something
more may be hoped for, provided we from the heart repent.
The design, then, of the Prophet’s warning was, that the Jews might receive this
remaining favor of God, and not proceed in their obstinacy until God again
stretched forth his hand to destroy them.
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 27:20 Which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not, when
he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from
Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem;
Ver. 20. Which Nebuchadnezzar took not.] See on Jeremiah 27:19.
21 yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of
Israel, says about the things that are left in the
house of the Lord and in the palace of the king of
Judah and in Jerusalem:
83

84. GILL, "Yea, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the Lord,.... Which are
mentioned in Jer_27:19; together with others:
and in the house of the king of Judah, and of Jerusalem; see Jer_27:18.
CALVIN, "He repeats again the same words, Yea, thus saith Jehovah, etc.; for so
ought the particle ‫,כי‬ ki, to be rendered in this place. (191) And he emphatically
expresses what was of itself sufficiently clear, that he might deeply imprint on their
minds this declaration of God, and that thus some terror might penetrate into the
hearts of those who were so obdurate that it was not easy to effect anything by a
simple statement of the truth. Thus, then, saith Jehovah of the vessels which yet
remain in the Temple of Jehovah and in, the palace of the king, They shall be
carried to Babylon, and there they shall be, etc. Jeremiah intimates that the Jews
had no hope, as they were perversely resisting God and refusing to be chastised by
his hand. And he says, until the day in which I shall visit them, the vessels; for so the
reference may suitably be made; but as it is often the case in Hebrew to put a
pronoun when anything remarkable is spoken without any noun, or a subject, as
they say, preceding it, I am inclined to refer it to the Jews themselves; for the
restoration of the vessels depended on that of the people. He means, then, that the
vessels would be held captive until God allowed a free return to the people, which
happened through the edict of Cyrus, after he had obtained power in Chaldea and
Assyria.
It was the same thing as though the Jews were reminded that the exile which had
been predicted would be long, and that they foolishly hoped for what the false
prophets had promised as to the vessels; for God had no greater care for the vessels
than for his chosen people, as the vessels were acceptable to God for the people’s
sake. Here, then, Jeremiah confirms what he has said elsewhere, and that often, that
the people would be captives until the day of visitation, that is, till the end of seventy
years. When, therefore, says God, I shall visit the Jews themselves, I will then bring
back also the vessels; and so it was permitted by the command of Cyrus. We now
understand the simple meaning of the words. Another narrative follows
PETT, "Jeremiah 27:21-22
“Yes, thus says YHWH of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels which are
left in the house of YHWH, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem,
they will be carried to Babylon, and there will they be, until the day that I visit
them, the word of YHWH, then will I bring them up, and restore them to this
84

85. place.”
And the word of YHWH concerning all the vessels which still remained in the house
of YHWH and in the king’s palace, was that they also would be carried off to
Babylon and would remain there until His allotted day of deliverance. And this was
the guaranteed word of YHWH. It was only when that day of deliverance came that
He would again bring all those vessels back up to Jerusalem, and restore them to
their rightful place.
22 ‘They will be taken to Babylon and there they
will remain until the day I come for them,’
declares the Lord. ‘Then I will bring them back
and restore them to this place.’”
CLARKE, "They shall be carried to Babylon - Far from those already taken
being brought back, those which now remain shall be carried thither, unless ye submit to
the Chaldeans. They did not submit, and the prophecy was literally fulfilled; see Jer_
52:17-23; 2Ki_25:13, 2Ch_36:18.
GILL, "They shall be carried to Babylon,.... As they were; and of which, with
others, there is a particular account in 2Ki_25:13;
and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, saith to the Lord; the
Chaldeans in a way of wrath, and the Jews in a way of grace and favour; which was at the
end of the seventy years' captivity; and so long the vessels of the sanctuary continued
there; here we read of them as in use the very night that Belshazzar was slain, and
Babylon taken, Dan_5:2;
then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place; which was fulfilled
when the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia to give leave to the Jews to
return to their own land, and rebuild their temple; and at the same time delivered into
the hands of Sheshbazzar, prince of Judah, the vessels of the temple, Ezr_1:1.
JAMISON, "until ... I visit them — in wrath by Cyrus (Jer_32:5). In seventy years
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86. from the first carrying away of captives in Jehoiachin’s reign (Jer_29:10; 2Ch_36:21).
restore them — by the hand of Cyrus (Ezr_1:7). By Artaxerxes (Ezr_7:19).
ELLICOTT, " (22) They shall be carried to Babylon.—The fulfilment of the
prediction is recorded in 2 Kings 25:13-17.
Until the day that I visit them.—The date is not given definitely, but seventy years
had been already named as the period between the plunder and the restoration
(Jeremiah 25:12). Here the undefined vagueness of “the day that I will visit them” is
contrasted with the equally indefinite but more exciting “shortly” of the false
prophets (Jeremiah 27:16).
TRAPP, "Jeremiah 27:22 They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be
until the day that I visit them, saith the LORD then will I bring them up, and
restore them to this place.
Ver. 22. Until the day that I visit them.] Till by my providence I appoint a great part
of them to be brought back again, and to be new consecrated to my service. [Ezra
1:7; Ezra 7:19]
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