Jeremiah 27:2

27:2 The Lord told me, ¹  “Make a yoke ²  out of leather straps and wooden crossbars and put it on your neck.

Jeremiah 28:10-14

28:10 The prophet Hananiah then took the yoke off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck and broke it. 28:11 Then he spoke up in the presence of all the people. “The Lord says, ‘In the same way I will break the yoke of servitude of all the nations to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon ³  before two years are over.’” After he heard this, the prophet Jeremiah departed and went on his way. ⁴ 

28:12 But shortly after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, the Lord spoke to Jeremiah. 28:13 “Go and tell Hananiah that the Lord says, ⁵  ‘You have indeed broken the wooden yoke. But you have ⁶  only succeeded in replacing it with an iron one! ⁷  28:14 For the Lord God of Israel who rules over all ⁸  says, “I have put an irresistible yoke of servitude on all these nations ⁹  so they will serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. And they will indeed serve him. I have even given him control over the wild animals.”’” ¹⁰ 

Zechariah 1:18-21

Vision Two: The Four Horns

1:18 (2:1) ¹¹  Once again I looked and this time I saw four horns. 1:19 So I asked the angelic messenger ¹²  who spoke with me, “What are these?” He replied, “These are the horns ¹³  that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.” ¹⁴  1:20 Next the Lord showed me four blacksmiths. ¹⁵  1:21 I asked, “What are these going to do?” He answered, “These horns are the ones that have scattered Judah so that there is no one to be seen. ¹⁶  But the blacksmiths have come to terrify Judah’s enemies ¹⁷  and cut off the horns of the nations that have thrust themselves against the land of Judah in order to scatter its people.” ¹⁸ 

Zechariah 1:2

1:2 The Lord was very angry with your ancestors. ¹⁹ 

Zechariah 3:8

3:8 Listen now, Joshua the high priest, both you and your colleagues who are sitting before you, all of you ²⁰  are a symbol that I am about to introduce my servant, the Branch. ²¹ 

[27:2]  ¹ tn There is some disjunction in the narrative of this chapter. The introduction in v. 1 presents this as a third person narrative. But the rest of the passage reports the narrative in first person. Thus the text reads here “Thus the Lord said to me…” In vv. 12, 16 the narrative picks up in first person report and never indicates that Jeremiah carried out the command in vv. 2-4 that introduces the message which he repeats in summary form himself to Zedekiah. The report is thus an “unedited” first person report. This may create some confusion for some readers, but it is best to leave it in first person here because of the continuation in vv. 12, 16.

[27:2]  ² sn The yoke is a common biblical symbol of political servitude (see, e.g., Deut 28:48; 1 Kgs 12:4, 9, 10). From the context of 1 Kgs 12 it is clear that it applied to taxation and the provision of conscript labor. In international political contexts it involved the payment of heavy tribute which was often conscripted from the citizens (see, e.g., 2 Kgs 15:19-20; 23:34-35) and the furnishing of military contingents for the sovereign’s armies (see, e.g., 2 Kgs 24:2). Jeremiah’s message here combines both a symbolic action (the wearing of a yoke) and words of explanation as in Jer 19:1-13. (See Isa 20:1-6 for an example outside of Jeremiah.) The casting off of the yoke has been used earlier in Jer 2:20, 5:5 to refer to Israel’s failure to remain spiritually “subject” or faithful to God.

[28:11]  ³ tn Heb “I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from upon the necks of all the nations.”

[28:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “Then the prophet Jeremiah went his way.”

[28:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “Hananiah, ‘Thus says the Lord….” The translation uses an indirect quotation here used to eliminate one level of embedded quotation.

[28:13]  ⁶ tn The Greek version reads “I have made/put” rather than “you have made/put.” This is the easier reading and is therefore rejected.

[28:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “the yoke bars of wood you have broken, but you have made in its stead yoke bars of iron.”

[28:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God of Israel.” See the study notes on 2:19 and 7:3 for this title.

[28:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “An iron yoke I have put on the necks of all these nations.”

[28:14]  ¹⁰ 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.

[1:18]  ¹¹ sn This marks the beginning of ch. 2 in the Hebrew text. Beginning with 1:18, the verse numbers through 2:13 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 1:18 ET = 2:1 HT, 1:19 ET = 2:2 HT, 1:20 ET = 2:3 HT, 1:21 ET = 2:4 HT, 2:1 ET = 2:5 HT, etc., through 2:13 ET = 2:17 HT. From 3:1 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.

[1:19]  ¹² tn See the note on the expression “angelic messenger” in v. 9.

[1:19]  ¹³ sn An animal’s horn is a common OT metaphor for military power (Pss 18:2; 75:10; Jer 48:25; Mic 4:13). The fact that there are four horns here (as well as four blacksmiths, v. 20) shows a correspondence to the four horses of v. 8 which go to four parts of the world, i.e., the whole world.

[1:19]  ¹⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “craftsmen” (so NASB, NIV; KJV “carpenters”), a generic term which can mean “metalworker, smith, armorer” (HALOT 358 s.v. חָרָשׁ). “Blacksmiths” was chosen for the present translation because of its relative familiarity among contemporary English readers.

[1:21]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “so that no man lifts up his head.”

[1:21]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “terrify them”; the referent (Judah’s enemies) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:21]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “to scatter it.” The word “people” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[1:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “fathers” (so KJV, NAB); NIV “forefathers” (also in vv. 4, 5).

[3:8]  ²⁰ tn Heb “these men.” The cleansing of Joshua and his elevation to enhanced leadership as a priest signify the coming of the messianic age.

[3:8]  ²¹ sn The collocation of servant and branch gives double significance to the messianic meaning of the passage (cf. Isa 41:8, 9; 42:1, 19; 43:10; 44:1, 2, 21; Ps 132:17; Jer 23:5; 33:15).