Isaiah 47:6

47:6 I was angry at my people;

I defiled my special possession

and handed them over to you.

You showed them no mercy; ¹ 

you even placed a very heavy burden on old people. ² 

Jeremiah 27:12-13

27:12 I told King Zedekiah of Judah the same thing. I said, ³  “Submit ⁴  to the yoke of servitude to ⁵  the king of Babylon. Be subject to him and his people. Then you will continue to live. 27:13 There is no reason why you and your people should die in war ⁶  or from starvation or disease! ⁷  That’s what the Lord says will happen to any nation ⁸  that will not be subject to the king of Babylon.

Jeremiah 28:13-14

28:13 “Go and tell Hananiah that the Lord says, ⁹  ‘You have indeed broken the wooden yoke. But you have ¹⁰  only succeeded in replacing it with an iron one! ¹¹  28:14 For the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ¹²  says, “I have put an irresistible yoke of servitude on all these nations ¹³  so they will serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. And they will indeed serve him. I have even given him control over the wild animals.”’” ¹⁴ 

Matthew 11:29

11:29 Take my yoke ¹⁵  on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

¹ tn Or “compassion.”

² tn Heb “on the old you made very heavy your yoke.”

³ tn Heb “I spoke to Zedekiah…according to all these words, saying.”

⁴ sn The verbs in this verse are all plural. They are addressed to Zedekiah and his royal advisers (compare 22:2).

⁵ tn Heb “put their necks in the yoke of.” See the study note on v. 2 for the figure.

⁶ tn Heb “with/by the sword.”

⁷ tn Heb “Why should you and your people die…?” The rhetorical question expects the answer made explicit in the translation, “There is no reason!”

⁸ tn Heb “…disease according to what the Lord spoke concerning the nation that…”

⁹ tn Heb “Hananiah, ‘Thus says the Lord….” The translation uses an indirect quotation here used to eliminate one level of embedded quotation.

¹⁰ tn The Greek version reads “I have made/put” rather than “you have made/put.” This is the easier reading and is therefore rejected.

¹¹ tn Heb “the yoke bars of wood you have broken, but you have made in its stead yoke bars of iron.”

¹² tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.” See the study notes on 2:19 and 7:3 for this title.

¹³ tn Heb “An iron yoke I have put on the necks of all these nations.”

¹⁴ sn The emphasis is on the absoluteness of Nebuchadnezzar’s control. The statement is once again rhetorical and not to be taken literally. See the study note on 27:6.

¹⁵ sn A yoke is a wooden bar or frame that joins two animals like oxen or horses so that they can pull a wagon, plow, etc. together. Here it is used figuratively of the restrictions that a teacher or rabbi would place on his followers.