27:1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim (Zedekiah -- see vv.3, 12, 20 and 28:1) the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

The mention of the name of Zedekiah as king of Judah in Jeremiah 27:3 shows that the Hebrew text has here perpetuated an error, due probably to the transcriber or first editor of the collected prophecies. We have to think, accordingly, of the state of things which followed on the death of Jehoiakim, and the deposition and exile of Jehoiachin. The tone of the prophecy seems to indicate a time about the middle of Zedekiah’s reign. His position was that of a tributary sovereign, subject to Nebuchadnezzar. He and the neighbouring kings, who were in a like position, had not quite renounced the hope of throwing off the yoke, and asserting their independence.

Instead of Jehoiakim here, Dr. Waterland, Houbigant, Blaney, and many others, read Zedekiah, because it is difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile the common reading with what follows. Lowth also, in his commentary upon the place, gives it as his opinion, that “the least forced way of solving the difficulty is, to say that Jehoiakim has crept into the text by the negligence of the scribes, (who might have their eyes fixed upon the beginning of the last chapter or section,) instead of Zedekiah. This emendation is confirmed by comparing this verse with the 3d, 12th, and 20th verses of this chapter, and with the beginning of the next. Such little verbal mistakes must be allowed by all impartial readers to have sometimes happened in transcribing the Holy Scriptures, as well as in other books, and may easily be corrected, by comparing the suspected reading with other parts of the sacred text, which admit of no difficulty or uncertainty.”

Really, of Zedekiah, as the Syriac reads (see Jeremiah 27:3). In the Septuagint the verse is missing. Some scribe has confused the title of this chapter with that of Jeremiah 26.

2 Thus saith the Lord to me; Make thee (crescent) bonds and (crescent) yokes, and put them upon thy neck,

3 And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the (Gemini) messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah;

4 And command them to say unto their masters, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say unto your masters;

5 I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me.

6 And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.

7 And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son (Gemini), until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him.

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 put their neck under the (lunar Cancer) yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the (red radius line) sword, and with the (red radius line) famine, and with the (red radius line) pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.

9 Therefore (lunar Cancer ear) hearken not ye to your (Gemini) prophets, nor to your (Gemini) diviners, nor to your (Gemini) dreamers, nor to your (Gemini) enchanters, nor to your (Gemini) sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the (Cepheus) king of Babylon:

10 For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish.

11 But the (Gemini) nations that bring their (lunar Cancer) neck under the (lunar Cancer) yoke of the (Cepheus) king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the Lord; and they shall (lunar crescent) till it, and dwell therein.

12 I spake also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your (lunar Cancer) necks under the yoke of the (Cepheus) king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.

13 Why will ye die, thou and thy (Gemini) people, by the (red radius line) sword, by the (red radius line) famine, and by the (red radius line) pestilence, as the Lord hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the (Cepheus) king of Babylon?

14 Therefore hearken not (lunar Cancer ear) unto the words of the (Gemini) prophets that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the (Cepheus) king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you.

15 For I have not sent them, saith the Lord, yet they (red radius line) prophesy a lie in my name; that I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye, and the (Gemini) prophets that prophesy unto you.

16 Also I spake to the (Gemini) priests and to all this (Gemini) people, saying, Thus saith the Lord; (lunar Cancer ear) Hearken not to the words of your (Gemini) prophets that prophesy unto you, saying, Behold, the (lunar crescent) vessels of the Lord's house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you.

17 (lunar Cancer ear) Hearken not unto them; serve the (Cepheus) king of Babylon, and live: wherefore should this city be laid waste?

18 But if they be (Gemini) prophets, and if the word of the Lord be with them, let them now make intercession to the Lord of hosts, that the (lunar crescent) vessels which are left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the (Cepheus) king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon.

19 For thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the (solar) pillars, and concerning the (lunar crescent) sea, and concerning the (lunar crescent) bases, and concerning the residue of the (lunar crescent) vessels that remain in this city.

20 Which Nebuchadnezzar (Cepheus) king of Babylon took not, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem;

21 Yea, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the (lunar crescent) vessels that remain in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem;

22 They shall be carried to Babylon (585 B.C.), and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, saith the Lord; then will I bring them up (539 B.C.), and restore them to this place.

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 Hananiah the son of Azur the prophet, which was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying,

Namely, the same in which the preceding prophecy was delivered; for the words manifestly refer to the time specified at the beginning of the foregoing chapter, and confirm the conjecture there made, that Jehoiakim is put there, by a mistake in the copies, for Zedekiah: see note on Jeremiah 26:1, where the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign is termed the beginning of it.

And it came to pass the same year - the fifth month - Which commenced with the first new moon of August, according to our calendar. This verse gives the precise date of the prophecy in the preceding chapter; and proves that Zedekiah, not Jehoiakim, is the name that should be read in the first verse of that chapter.

The chapter stands in immediate sequence with that which precedes and confirms the conclusion that the name Jehoiakim in Jeremiah 27:1 is simply a transcriber’s mistake.

2 Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

3 Within two full years will I bring again into this place all the vessels of the Lord's house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried them to Babylon:

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, saith the Lord: for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.

5 Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of the Lord,

6 Even the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen: the Lord do so: the Lord perform thy words which thou hast prophesied, to bring again the vessels of the Lord's house, and all that is carried away captive, from Babylon into this place.

7 Nevertheless hear thou now this word that I speak in thine (lunar Cancer) ears, and in the (lunar Cancer) ears of all the (Gemini) people;

8 The (Gemini) prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence.

9 The prophet which prophesieth of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the Lord hath truly sent him.

10 Then Hananiah the prophet took the (crescent) yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, and brake it.

11 And Hananiah spake in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Even so will I break the (crescent) 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.

12 Then the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the prophet, after that Hananiah the prophet had broken the (crescent) yoke from off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying,

13 Go and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord; Thou hast broken the yokes of wood; but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron.

14 For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these (Gemini) nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him: and I have given him the beasts of the field also.

15 Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, (lunar Cancer) Hear now, Hananiah; The Lord hath not sent thee; but thou makest this (Gemini) people to trust in a lie.

16 Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth: this year thou shalt die, because thou hast taught rebellion against the Lord.

17 So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month.