Jeremiah 27:12 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Jeremiah 27:12
I spake also 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.
perhaps properly · verb, piel perfect, 1st person common singular
Zedekiah
צִדְקִיָּ֤הtzid.ki.Yah
H6667
Tsidkijah · proper noun, a man's name
king
מֶֽלֶךְMe.lekh-
H4428
a king · noun, common masculine singular construct
Judah
יְהוּדָה֙ye.hu.Dah
H3063
Jehudah (or Judah) · proper noun, a place name
words
הַדְּבָרִ֥יםha.de.va.Rim
H1697
a word · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
saying
לֵאמֹ֑רle.Mor
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
Bring
הָבִ֨יאוּha.Vi.'u
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
necks
צַוְּארֵיכֶ֜םtza.ve.rei.Khem
H6677
the back of the neck (as that on which burdens are boun… · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
yoke
בְּעֹ֣לbe.'Ol
H5923
a yoke (as imposed on the neck) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
king
מֶֽלֶךְMe.lekh-
H4428
a king · noun, common masculine singular construct
Babylon
בָּבֶ֗לba.Vel
H894
Babel (i.e. Babylon) · proper noun, a place name
serve
וְעִבְד֥וּve.'iv.Du
H5647
to work (in any sense) · conjunction + verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
people
וְעַמּ֖וֹve.'a.Mo
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
live
וִֽחְיֽוּVich.Yu
H2421
to live · conjunction + verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Jeremiah 28:1 And it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, and in the fifth month, that…
Jeremiah 38:17 Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of…
2 Chronicles 36:11-13 Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
Proverbs 1:33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
Jeremiah 27:2-3 Thus saith the LORD to me; Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck,
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 p…
Ezekiel 17:11-21 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 27:12–end
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…
I spake also--translate, "And I spake," &c. Special application of the subject to Zedekiah.
John Gill on Jeremiah 27:12
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…
Jeremiah 27:12
12. I spake also 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.
12. Ad Zedekiam ergo regem Jehudah loquutus sum secundum conctos sermones istos, dicendo, Adducite colla vestra ad jugum regis Babylonis et servite ei et populo ejus, et vivetis.
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…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 12, 13.) And to King Zedekiah of Judah I spoke according to all these words, saying: Submit your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and you shall live. Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, as the Lord has spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? Do not listen to the words of the prophets who say to you, 'You shall not serve the king of Babylon,' for they prophesy a lie to you. I have not sent them, says the Lord, but they prophesy falsely in my name, in order to drive you out and make you perish, you and the prophets who are prophesying to you. After all the nations pass over to King Zedekiah of Judah, he speaks with the same nations he threatened, saying: for the nation of Israel does not deserve the privilege, who has sinned either similar or greater than the other nations. Finally, because the rebellious people refused to listen, they were destroyed by sword, famine, and pestilence. It should be noted in the holy Scripture that it refers to false prophets as prophets who prophesy falsely in the name of the Lord. But they, says he, do this, in order that they may cast you out, and bring destruction upon you, as well as upon the prophets who prophesy to you. And therefore the destruction is alike of those who are deceived and of those who deceive. This is what we have put from the Hebrew: Serve under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and you shall live. Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, and by famine, and by pestilence, as the Lord has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? Do not listen to the words of the prophets who say to you, 'In the Septuagint it is not found.' And therefore I advise, so that the intelligent reader may understand how much is lacking in each Greek and Latin codex.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Zedekiah — Righteousness of Jehovah. (1.) The last king of Judah. He was the third son of Josiah, and his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah, and hence he was the brother of Jehoahaz…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
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…
