Jeremiah 27:11-12

27:11 Things will go better for the nation that submits to the yoke of servitude to ¹  the king of Babylon and is subject to him. I will leave that nation ²  in its native land. Its people can continue to farm it and live in it. I, the Lord, affirm it!”’” ³ 

27:12 I told King Zedekiah of Judah the same thing. I said, ⁴  “Submit ⁵  to the yoke of servitude to ⁶  the king of Babylon. Be subject to him and his people. Then you will continue to live.

[27:11]  ¹ tn Heb “put their necks in the yoke of.” See the study note on v. 2 for the figure.

[27:11]  ² tn The words “Things will go better for” are not in the text. They are supplied contextually as a means of breaking up the awkward syntax of the original which reads “The nation which brings its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and subjects itself to him, I will leave it…”

[27:11]  ³ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

[27:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “I spoke to Zedekiah…according to all these words, saying.”

[27:12]  ⁵ sn The verbs in this verse are all plural. They are addressed to Zedekiah and his royal advisers (compare 22:2).

[27:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “put their necks in the yoke of.” See the study note on v. 2 for the figure.