Jeremiah 28 - Easy To Read Version

¹ In the fifth month of the fourth year {\cf2\super [218]} that Zedekiah was king of Judah, Hananiah the prophet spoke to me. Hananiah was the son of a man named Azzur. Hananiah was from the town of Gibeon. Hananiah was in the Lord’s temple when he spoke to me. The priests and all the people were there also. This is what Hananiah said:

² “The Lord All-Powerful, the God of the people of Israel, says: ‘I will break the yoke {\cf2\super [219]} that the king of Babylon has put on the people of Judah.

³ Before two years are over, I will bring back all the things that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took from the Lord’s temple. Nebuchadnezzar has carried those things to Babylon. But I will bring those things back here to Jerusalem.

⁴ I will also bring Jehoiachin king of Judah back to this place. Jehoiachin is the son of Jehoiakim. And I will bring back all those people of Judah that Nebuchadnezzar forced to leave their homes and go to Babylon.’ This message is from the Lord. ‘So I will break the yoke that the king of Babylon put on the people of Judah!’”

⁵ Then the prophet Jeremiah answered the prophet Hananiah. They were standing in the temple of the Lord. The priests and all the people there could hear Jeremiah’s answer.

⁶ Jeremiah said to Hananiah, “Amen! {\cf2\super [220]} I hope the Lord will really do that! I hope the Lord will make the message you preach come true. I hope the Lord will bring the things of the Lord’s temple {\cf2\super [221]} back to this place from Babylon. And I hope the Lord will bring all the people that were forced to leave their homes back to this place.

⁷ “But listen to what I must say, Hananiah. Listen to what I say to all you people.

⁸ There were prophets long before you and I became prophets, Hananiah. They preached that war, hunger, and terrible sicknesses would come to many countries and great kingdoms.

⁹ But the prophet that preaches that we will have peace must be tested to see if he truly was sent by the Lord. If the message of that prophet comes true, then people can know that he truly was sent by the Lord.”

¹⁰ Jeremiah was wearing a yoke {\cf2\super [222]} around his neck. Then the prophet Hananiah took that yoke from Jeremiah’s neck. Hananiah broke that yoke.

¹¹ Then Hananiah spoke loudly, so all the people could hear him. He said, “The Lord says: ‘In the same way I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He put that yoke on all the nations of the world. But I will break that yoke before two years are over.’”

¹² Then the message of the Lord came to Jeremiah. This happened after Hananiah had taken the yoke {\cf2\super [224]} off of Jeremiah’s neck and had broken it.

¹³ The Lord said to Jeremiah, “Go and tell Hananiah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You have broken a wooden yoke. But I will make a yoke of iron in the place of the wooden yoke.’

¹⁴ The Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will put a yoke of iron on the necks of all these nations. I will do that to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. And they will be slaves to him. I will even give Nebuchadnezzar control over the wild animals.’”

¹⁵ Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord did not send you. But you have made the people of Judah trust in lies.

¹⁶ So this is what the Lord says, ‘Soon I will take you from this world, Hananiah. You will die this year. Why? Because you taught the people to turn against the Lord.’”

¹⁷ Hananiah died in the seventh month of that same year.