Bible Strands
Jeremiah 28:10
Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke it.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The prophet Hananiah acts before the assembled people immediately after Jeremiah wore a leather yoke to symbolize Babylonian subjugation. He removes the yoke from Jeremiah’s neck and shatters it in a public demonstration.
The words — The text records Hananiah taking the מוֹטָה (moṭâ), literally the yoke-bar, from Jeremiah’s צַוָּאר (ṣavvār), neck. He then breaks it to enact a visible counter-prophecy.
The thread — The yoke motif appears when Jeremiah himself fashioned a leather yoke in Jeremiah 27:2 to warn of Babylonian dominance. The public breaking of a symbolic object parallels Zedekiah’s iron horns in 1 Kings 22:11 and his strike against Micaiah in 1 Kings 22:24.
Why it lands — The text records a physical act meant to declare immediate political relief, demanding readers verify the prophet’s message against its fulfillment. It requires evaluating prophetic claims by their objective outcome rather than their dramatic presentation.
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The Hebrew words
King James Version
Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, and brake it.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 27:2 This is what the LORD said to me: “Make for yourself a yoke out of leather straps and put it on your neck.
- 1 Kings 22:11 Now Zedekiah son of Chenaanah had made for himself iron horns and declared, “This is what the LORD says: ‘With these you shall gore the Arameans until they are finished off.’”
- 1 Kings 22:24 Then Zedekiah son of Chenaanah went up, struck Micaiah in the face, and demanded, “Which way did the Spirit of the LORD go when He departed from me to speak with you?”
- Jeremiah 28:2 “This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.
- Jeremiah 28:4 And I will restore to this place Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, along with all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon,’ declares the LORD, ‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’”
- Jeremiah 36:23 And as soon as Jehudi had read three or four columns, Jehoiakim would cut them off with a scribe’s knife and throw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll had been consumed by the fire.
- Malachi 3:13 “Your words against Me have been harsh,” says the LORD. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we spoken against You?’