Jeremiah 28 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
594 BC, the fourth year of Zedekiah, in the same season as the yoke sign of the previous chapter
Location
The temple courtyard in Jerusalem, in front of the priests and the assembled crowd
Audience
Judeans in Jerusalem deciding which prophet to believe, and later readers given a test case with a dated outcome
Situation
A prophet named Hananiah publicly announces that within two years God will break Babylon's power and bring back the exiles and the temple vessels, then takes the wooden yoke off Jeremiah's neck and smashes it. Jeremiah walks away, returns with a message that the wooden yoke will be replaced by an iron one, and tells Hananiah he will die that year, which he does two months later.
Key Background
There was no neutral way to tell a true prophet from a false one at the moment of speaking, since both used the same formulas and both claimed the same God, and the practical test offered in Israel's law was simply whether the prediction came true, which is why the dated death notice is the point of the story. Hananiah's message was not obviously absurd, because it matched earlier deliverances and the deep national conviction that God would not let his own city fall. Jeremiah's initial reply, that he would be glad if Hananiah were right, shows he had no personal appetite for the harsher message he was carrying.
That same year, at the beginning of the reign of king of Judah — in the fifth month of the fourth year — Hananiah son of Azzur, the from Gibeon, said to Jeremiah in right in front of the priests and all the people:
"This is what Yahweh, the of the God of Israel, says: 'I have broken the of the king of Babylon.'
"Within two full years, I am going to bring back to this place all the from Yahweh's house that king of Babylon took from here and carried off to Babylon."
"I am also going to bring back to this place son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, along with all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon" — this is — "because I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon."
Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet, right in front of the priests and everyone standing in Yahweh's house.
Jeremiah the prophet said, May do that! May make your words come true and bring back the equipment from Yahweh's house and all the exiles from Babylon to this place."
"But listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you — you and everyone here need to hear this:"
"The prophets who came before us — way back — they war, disaster, and against many lands and powerful kingdoms."
"When a prophet announces — only when that prophet's message actually comes true can you know that Yahweh genuinely sent that prophet."
Then Hananiah the prophet grabbed the off Jeremiah's neck and snapped it in two.
And Hananiah declared in front of everyone: "This is what Yahweh says: 'This is exactly how I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon off the neck of every nation — within two full years.'" And Jeremiah the prophet walked away.
Sometime after Hananiah the prophet had snapped the yoke off Jeremiah's neck, Yahweh's message came to Jeremiah:
"Go tell Hananiah: This is what Yahweh says: 'You broke wooden yoke-bars, but you've just replaced them with ones.'"
"Because this is what Yahweh, the Commander of angel armies, the God of Israel, says: 'I have put an iron yoke on the necks of all these nations to make them Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon — and they will him. I have even given him control over the
Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet: "Listen, Hananiah — Yahweh did not send you. You have made these people in a
"So this is what Yahweh says: 'I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. You will die this year, because you have preached against Yahweh.'"
And Hananiah the prophet died that same year, in the