Bible Strands
Jeremiah 27:8
As for the nation or kingdom that does not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and does not place its neck under his yoke, I will punish that nation by sword and famine and plague, declares the LORD, until I have destroyed it by his hand.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah addresses Judah’s leaders and people during the Babylonian campaign, directly countering false prophets who claimed God would spare them from Babylonian rule.
The words — The verb יַעַבְדוּ (ya.'av.Du) translates literally as “they will serve,” establishing political submission to Nebuchadnezzar as the explicit condition of the divine warning.
The thread — The triad of sword, famine, and plague reappears in Jeremiah 24:10 and Ezekiel 14:21 as the standard instrument of covenant judgment, while Jeremiah 38:17 applies the same consequence to individual kings who refuse surrender.
Why it lands — The text states that any nation refusing Babylonian dominion will be punished by military and natural disaster until it is destroyed. It requires the reader to accept that resisting God’s appointed political instrument guarantees national ruin.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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 yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 24:10 And I will send against them sword and famine and plague, until they have perished from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.’”
- Jeremiah 38:17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the LORD God of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you indeed surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then you will live, this city will not be burned down, and you and your household will survive.
- Ezekiel 14:21 For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem My four dire judgments—sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague—in order to cut off from it both man and beast?
- Ezekiel 17:19 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘As surely as I live, I will bring down upon his head My oath that he despised and My covenant that he broke.
- Jeremiah 25:28 If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink it, you are to tell them that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘You most certainly must drink it!
- Jeremiah 40:9 Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, swore an oath to them and their men, assuring them, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.
- Jeremiah 42:10 ‘If you will indeed stay in this land, then I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I will relent of the disaster I have brought upon you.
- Jeremiah 52:3 For because of the anger of the LORD, all this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, until He finally banished them from His presence. And Zedekiah also rebelled against the king of Babylon.