Bible Strands
Jeremiah 28:14
For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I have even given him control of the beasts of the field.’”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah addresses Hananiah immediately after the prophet shattered a wooden yoke in a public demonstration. The declaration follows Jeremiah’s warning that God will replace the broken wood with an unbreakable iron yoke.
The words — עֹל ('ol) refers to a literal yoke of wood or iron used for forced labor and subjugation. כֹּֽה־ (khoh-) and אָמַר֩ ('a.Mar) function as a formal marker introducing a direct divine utterance.
The thread — The iron yoke motif appears in Deuteronomy 28:48 as a curse of foreign domination and Jeremiah 27:6 as God’s delegation of regional authority to Nebuchadnezzar. Deuteronomy 4:20 contrasts this instrument of oppression with the iron furnace of Egypt, where God forged Israel as His possession.
Why it lands — The text establishes that earthly empires exercise control only by sovereign allowance, not by autonomous power. Readers must abandon political or prophetic shortcuts that contradict established divine judgment.
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
For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these 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.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 28:48 you will serve your enemies the LORD will send against you in famine, thirst, nakedness, and destitution. He will place an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.
- Jeremiah 27:6 So now I have placed all these lands under the authority of My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I have even made the beasts of the field subject to him.
- Deuteronomy 4:20 Yet the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of His inheritance, as you are today.
- Isaiah 14:4 you will sing this song of contempt against the king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased, and how his fury has ended!
- Jeremiah 25:9 behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.
- Jeremiah 27:4 Give them a message from the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, to relay to their masters:
- Jeremiah 40:4 But now, behold, I am freeing you today from the chains that were on your wrists. If it pleases you to come with me to Babylon, then come, and I will take care of you. But if it seems wrong to you to come with me to Babylon, go no farther. Look, the whole land is before you. Wherever it seems good and right to you, go there.”
- Daniel 2:38 Wherever the sons of men or beasts of the field or birds of the air dwell, He has given them into your hand and has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold.
- Revelation 17:12 The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but will receive one hour of authority as kings along with the beast.