a prophet or (generally) inspired man · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
took
וַיִּקַּ֞חvai.yi.Kach
H3947
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
yoke
הַמּוֹטָ֔הha.mo.Tah
H4133
a pole · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
prophet
הַנָּבִ֑יאha.na.Vi'
H5030
a prophet or (generally) inspired man · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Jeremiah’s
יִרְמְיָ֣הyir.me.Yah
H3414
Jirmejah · proper noun, a man's name
neck
צַוַּ֖ארtza.Var
H6677
the back of the neck (as that on which burdens are boun… · noun, common masculine singular construct
brake
וַֽיִּשְׁבְּרֵֽהוּVai.yish.be.Re.hu
H7665
to burst (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
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 27:2 Thus saith the LORD to me; Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck,
1 Kings 22:11 And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron: and he said, Thus saith the LORD, With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until th…
1 Kings 22:24-25 But Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah went near, and smote Micaiah on the cheek, and said, Which way went the Spirit of the LORD from me to spea…
Jeremiah 28:2 Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.
Jeremiah 28:4 And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, that went into Babylon, sa…
Jeremiah 36:23-24 And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the…
Malachi 3:13 Your words have been stout against me, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, What have we spoken so much against thee?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 28:10–end
We have here an instance,
I. Of the insolence of the false prophet. To complete the affront he designed Jeremiah, he took the yoke from off his neck which he carried as a memorial of what he had prophesied concerning the enslaving of the nations to Nebuchadnezzar, and he broke it, that he might give a sign of the accomplishment of this prophecy, as Jeremiah had given of his, and might seem to have conquered him, and to have defeated the intention of his prophecy. See how the lying spirit, in the mouth of this false prophet, mimics the language of the Spirit of truth: Thus saith the Lord, So will I break the yoke of the king of Babylon, not only from the neck of this nation, but from the neck…
the yoke-- (Jer 27:2). Impious audacity to break what God had appointed as a solemn pledge of the fulfilment of His word. Hence Jeremiah deigns no reply (Jer 28:11; Mat 7:6).
John Gill on Jeremiah 28:10
Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck,.... Which he wore as a symbol of the subjection of Judea, and other nations, to the king of Babylon: an impudent and insolent action this was, to take the prophet's yoke from his neck; and the more so, as it was by the command of God that he made it, and wore it:
and brake it; being made of wood, as it afterwards appears, and so might easily be broken.
John Calvin on Jeremiah 28:10-11
Jeremiah 28:10-11
10. Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, and brake it.
10. Et abstulit Chananias propheta ligamen illud (vinculum) e collo Jeremiae prophetae, et confregit illud.
11. And Hananiah spake in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way.
11. Et dixit Chananias in oculis totius populi (hoc est, coram toto populo loquutus est,) dicendo, Sic dicit Jehova, In hunc modum confringam jugum Nebuchadnezer, regis Babylonii cum adhuc (id est simulae) fuerunt duo a…
The Church Fathers
The Septuagint does not translate "two years," nor does it call Hananiah a "prophet," lest it appear to name someone a prophet who was in fact no prophet, as if not many persons in sacred Scripture were named in accordance with the opinion of the time in which they lived or according to the truth of the matter. But Joseph is called the father of the Lord. And Mary, who knew that she had conceived by the Holy Spirit (responding to the angel, "How can this be, since I have never known a man?"), asked her son, "Son, why have you treated us this way? Your father and I have been looking for you desperately." The prudence, humility and patience of Jeremiah must also be considered. When the pseudo-prophet damaged and broke the yoke around Jeremiah's neck, which he was not able to do with iron, Jeremiah remained silent and concealed his pain. For what he should say was not yet revealed to him by the Lord, so that sacred Scripture would demonstrate tacitly that a prophet never speaks only on his own decision but also by the will of the Lord, most especially regarding future events, which are known to God alone. Jeremiah departed, it says, and went on his way as though he were well, thus fulfilling the prophecy: "I have become like a person who hears nothing and has no rebukes in his mouth."
About four hundred years have passed since the preaching of Christ burst on the world, and during that time in which his robe has been torn by countless heresies, almost the whole body of error has been derived from the Chaldaean, Syriac and Greek languages. Basilides, the master of licentiousness and the grossest sensuality, after the lapse of so many years and like a second Euphorbus, was changed by transmigration into Jovinian, so that the Latin tongue might have a heresy of its own. Was there no other province in the whole world to receive the gospel of pleasure and into which the serpent might insinuate itself, except that which was founded by the teaching of Peter, on the rock Christ? Idol temples had fallen before the standard of the cross and the severity of the gospel. Now, on the contrary, lust and gluttony endeavor to overthrow the solid structure of the cross. And so God says by Isaiah, "O my people, they which bless you cause you to err, and trouble the paths of your feet." Also by Jeremiah, "Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and save every one his life," and do not believe the false prophets who say, "Peace, peace, and there is no peace," who are always repeating, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord." "Your prophets have foreseen false and foolish things for you. They have not exposed your iniquity in order to call you to repentance. They devour God's people like bread. They have not called on God. Jeremiah announced the captivity and was stoned by the people. Hananiah, the son of Azzur, broke the bars of wood for the present but was preparing bars of iron for the future. False prophets always promise pleasant things and please for a time. Truth is bitter, and those preaching it are filled with bitterness. For with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth the Lord's Passover is kept, and it is eaten with bitter herbs.
Dictionary and topics
Yoke — (1.) Fitted on the neck of oxen for the purpose of binding to them the traces by which they might draw the plough, etc. (Num. 19:2; Deut. 21:3). It was a curved piece of wood called ’ol. (2.) In Jer.…
Yoke · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
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).
Had Hananiah been sent by the Lord, he might have been satisfied with Jeremiah's opinion, and have contentedly awaited the issue. But instead of this, he seeks by means of violence to secure credence for his prophesying. He takes the yoke from off the neck of the prophet, and breaks it in pieces, as he repeats before the people his former prediction: "Thus hath Jahveh said: Even so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within two years." - Thereupon Jeremiah went his way without answering a word, calmly entrusting to the Lord the vindication of the truth of His own word.
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Jeremiah 28:10-11
The false prophet Hananiah broke the yoke that Jeremiah was wearing (27:2) as a sign of what the Lord would do. • Jeremiah left the confrontation without replying, probably because he had not yet received the Lord’s response.
Rashi on Jeremiah 28:7
But, hearken now... The prophet who would prophesy for peace. He said: I prophesy retribution. If it does not come, I am not a liar, for the Holy One, blessed be He, renounces the evil, but the prophet who prophesies for peace, etc., when the word of the prophet comes, etc., but if his word does not come, he is a liar, as it is said, “God is not a man that He should lie, etc.” (Num. 23:19). In this manner Rabbi Tanhuma (Vayera 13) expounded.
(Verse 10, 11) And Ananias the prophet took a chain (or a yoke, which in Hebrew is called Mutoth) from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, and broke it. And Ananias said in the presence of all the people, saying: Thus says the Lord: I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, within two years from the necks of all nations. And Jeremiah went his way (The Vulgate adds prophet). The Seventy did not transfer two years. Moreover, they did not call Ananias a prophet, lest they seem to be calling someone a prophet who was not a prophet. It is as if not many things are said in the holy Scriptures, according to the opinion of that time in which the events are recounted, and not according to what the truth of the matter contained. Finally, even Joseph is called the father of the Lord in the Gospel, and Mary herself, who knew that she had conceived by the Holy Spirit, and she had responded to the angel: 'How will this be, since I do not know a man?' (Luke 1:34). He speaks to the Son: Son, what have you done to us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in sorrow. At the same time, the prudence of Jeremiah, and humility, and patience must be considered. The false prophet does wrong things, and crushes the snatched club from his neck, which he certainly could not do with an iron one. He is silent, and disguises his pain: for the Lord had not yet revealed to him what he should speak. As the holy Scripture shows, prophets do not speak by their own will alone, but by the will of the Lord, especially about the future, of which only God has knowledge. He left, he said, and went on his way, as if defeated, and fulfilling that prophecy: I have become like a deaf man, and like a man who does not have reproofs in his mouth.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).