New International Reader s Version - NIrV - 1996
Jeremiah 28
1
The prophet Hananiah spoke to me in the Lord's house. It was shortly after Zedekiah became king of Judah. It was in the fifth month of his fourth year. Hananiah was from Gibeon. He was the son of Azzur. In front of the priests and all of the people Hananiah said to me,
Reference
People
2
"The Lord who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, 'I will break the yoke of the king of Babylonia.
3
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylonia, removed all of the articles that belong to my house. He took them to Babylon. Before two years are over, I will bring them back to this place.
Reference
4
" 'I will also bring King Jehoiachin back. He is the son of Jehoiakim. And I will bring back all of the others who were taken from Judah to Babylon,' announces the Lord. 'I will break the yoke of the king of Babylonia.' "
Reference
5
Then I, the prophet Jeremiah, replied to the prophet Hananiah. I spoke to him in front of the priests and all of the people. They were standing in the Lord's house.
Reference
Prophecy
Jeremiah 28:1
6
I said, "Amen, Hananiah! May the Lord do those things! May he make the words you have prophesied come true. May he bring back from Babylon the articles that belong to the Lord's house. May he bring back to this place all of the people who were taken away.
Reference
7
"But listen to what I have to say. I want you and all of the people to hear it.
Reference
Parallel theme
1 Kings 22:28
8
There have been prophets long before you and I were ever born. They have prophesied against many countries and great kingdoms. They have spoken about war, trouble and plague.
Reference
9
But what if a prophet says peace will come? Only if it comes true will he be recognized as one who has been truly sent by the Lord."
Reference
10
The prophet Hananiah took the yoke off my neck. Then he broke it.
Reference
Parallel theme
Jeremiah 27:2
11
In front of all of the people he said, "The Lord says, 'In the same way, I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylonia. Before two years are over, I will remove it from the necks of all of the nations.' " When I heard that, I went on my way.
Reference
12
A message came to me from the Lord. It was shortly after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke off my neck. The message said,
Reference
Word
Jeremiah 1:2
13
"Go. Tell Hananiah, 'The Lord says, "You have broken a wooden yoke. But in its place you will get an iron yoke."
14
The Lord who rules over all is the God of Israel. He says, "I will put an iron yoke on the necks of all of those nations. I will make them serve Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylonia. So they will serve him. I will even give him control over the wild animals." ' "
Reference
References Lord
Deuteronomy 28:48
15
Then I, the prophet Jeremiah, spoke to the prophet Hananiah. I said, "Listen, Hananiah! The Lord hasn't sent you. But you have tricked these people. Now they trust in lies.
Reference
Parallel theme
Ezekiel 13:22
Jeremiah 20:6
Prophecy
Jeremiah 27:15
Jeremiah 23:21
Ezekiel 22:28
Lamentations 2:14
1 Kings 22:23
Jeremiah 28:11
Zechariah 13:3
References Lord
Jeremiah 29:23
16
So the Lord says, 'I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. Before this year is over, you will die. You have taught the people to turn against me.' "
Reference
Parallel theme
Genesis 7:4
Jeremiah 20:6
Exodus 32:12
1 Kings 13:34
References Lord
Jeremiah 29:32
Deuteronomy 6:15
17
In the seventh month of that very year, the prophet Hananiah died.
Summary of Jeremiah 28
Jeremiah 28 presents a dramatic confrontation between Jeremiah and Hananiah, two prophets who give completely different messages about Judah's future. The confrontation takes place during the reign of King Zedekiah, probably around 594 BC, only a few years after Babylon had captured Jerusalem and deported King Jehoiachin and many of Judah's leaders.
Hananiah delivers exactly the kind of message that a suffering nation would want to hear: Babylon's power will soon be broken, the Temple treasures will return, and the exiles will come home within two years. His message is confident, patriotic, and hopeful, while Jeremiah's message is difficult because it tells the people that Babylon's authority will continue and that they must accept God's discipline.
Jeremiah's initial response is surprisingly gracious. He says that he wishes Hananiah's prediction were true, because restoration would certainly be good news, but he reminds the people that prophetic messages cannot be judged simply by how comforting they sound. A prediction of peace must ultimately be tested by what happens.
Hananiah then performs a dramatic symbolic action by taking the wooden yoke from Jeremiah's neck and breaking it, declaring that Babylon's power will be broken within two years. The symbolism is powerful because the yoke had represented submission to Babylon, so breaking it publicly communicates freedom, independence, and national restoration.
But God responds through Jeremiah with an even stronger image: the wooden yoke will become an iron yoke. Instead of Babylon's authority disappearing, Judah's resistance will result in even greater pressure and suffering, and the coming Babylonian domination will become unavoidable.
Jeremiah then directly tells Hananiah that God did not send him, because his optimistic message has encouraged the people to trust a false promise rather than respond to God's actual warning. The chapter therefore addresses a difficult question: how can people distinguish a genuine message from one that merely tells them what they desperately want to hear?
The answer presented here is that hopeful words are not automatically God's words. A message must be consistent with God's revealed purposes and, particularly in this case, must ultimately be confirmed by reality. Hananiah's specific prediction that restoration would occur within two years fails, while Jeremiah's warnings continue toward fulfillment.
The final confirmation comes when Jeremiah announces that Hananiah will die within the same year, and the chapter records that Hananiah dies in the seventh month, only months after the confrontation.
The central message is that a comforting message is not necessarily a true message, and a difficult message is not necessarily a false one, because God's truth must be measured by His purposes rather than by how attractive or reassuring the message sounds; Hananiah promised quick freedom, restored Temple treasures, and the return of the exiles, while Jeremiah warned that Babylon's control would continue, and the breaking of the wooden yoke only became a symbol of the coming iron yoke, demonstrating that rejecting an uncomfortable truth does not change reality, while falsely claiming to speak for God carries serious consequences.
Hananiah delivers exactly the kind of message that a suffering nation would want to hear: Babylon's power will soon be broken, the Temple treasures will return, and the exiles will come home within two years. His message is confident, patriotic, and hopeful, while Jeremiah's message is difficult because it tells the people that Babylon's authority will continue and that they must accept God's discipline.
Jeremiah's initial response is surprisingly gracious. He says that he wishes Hananiah's prediction were true, because restoration would certainly be good news, but he reminds the people that prophetic messages cannot be judged simply by how comforting they sound. A prediction of peace must ultimately be tested by what happens.
Hananiah then performs a dramatic symbolic action by taking the wooden yoke from Jeremiah's neck and breaking it, declaring that Babylon's power will be broken within two years. The symbolism is powerful because the yoke had represented submission to Babylon, so breaking it publicly communicates freedom, independence, and national restoration.
But God responds through Jeremiah with an even stronger image: the wooden yoke will become an iron yoke. Instead of Babylon's authority disappearing, Judah's resistance will result in even greater pressure and suffering, and the coming Babylonian domination will become unavoidable.
Jeremiah then directly tells Hananiah that God did not send him, because his optimistic message has encouraged the people to trust a false promise rather than respond to God's actual warning. The chapter therefore addresses a difficult question: how can people distinguish a genuine message from one that merely tells them what they desperately want to hear?
The answer presented here is that hopeful words are not automatically God's words. A message must be consistent with God's revealed purposes and, particularly in this case, must ultimately be confirmed by reality. Hananiah's specific prediction that restoration would occur within two years fails, while Jeremiah's warnings continue toward fulfillment.
The final confirmation comes when Jeremiah announces that Hananiah will die within the same year, and the chapter records that Hananiah dies in the seventh month, only months after the confrontation.
The central message is that a comforting message is not necessarily a true message, and a difficult message is not necessarily a false one, because God's truth must be measured by His purposes rather than by how attractive or reassuring the message sounds; Hananiah promised quick freedom, restored Temple treasures, and the return of the exiles, while Jeremiah warned that Babylon's control would continue, and the breaking of the wooden yoke only became a symbol of the coming iron yoke, demonstrating that rejecting an uncomfortable truth does not change reality, while falsely claiming to speak for God carries serious consequences.