Jeremias 28

¹ That same year, in the fifth month of the fourth year that Zedekiah was king, Hananiah son of Azzur, a prophet from the town of Gibeon, spoke to me in the Temple. In the presence of the priests and of the people he told me

² that the Lord Jehovah, the God of Israel, said: »I have broken the power of the king of Babylon.

³ »Within two years I will bring back to this place all the temple treasures that King Nebuchadnezzar took to Babylon.’«

⁴ »‘I will also bring back the king of Judah, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, along with all of the people of Judah who went into exile in Babylon. I will break the power of the king of Babylon.’ I Jehovah have spoken!’«

⁵ In the presence of the priests and of all the people who were standing in the Temple, I said to Hananiah:

⁶ »Amen! I hope Jehovah will do this! I certainly hope he will make the prophecy come true and will bring back from Babylon all the Temple treasures and all the people who were taken away as prisoners.

⁷ »But listen to what I say to you and to the people.

⁸ »The prophets who spoke long ago before my time and yours predicted that war, starvation, and disease would come to many nations and powerful kingdoms.

⁹ »A prophet who predicts peace can only be recognized as a prophet whom Jehovah has truly sent when that prophet's predictions come true.«

¹⁰ Hananiah took the yoke off my neck and broke it in pieces.

¹¹ He said in the presence of all the people: »Jehovah said that this is how he will break the yoke that King Nebuchadnezzar has put on the neck of all the nations. He will do this within two years.« Then I left.

¹² Some time after this Jehovah told me:

¹³ »Go and tell Hananiah: ‘Jehovah has said, »You may be able to break a wooden yoke, but he will replace it with an iron yoke.«

¹⁴ »The Lord Jehovah, the God of Israel, said: ‘He will put an iron yoke on all these nations and that they will serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Jehovah said that he would make even the wild animals serve Nebuchadnezzar.« ’«

¹⁵ Then Jeremiah the prophet told the prophet Hananiah: »Listen, Hananiah! Jehovah did not send you. You are making these people believe a lie.

¹⁶ »Because of this, Jehovah says: ‘I am going to get rid of you. Before this year is over you will die because you have told the people to rebel against Jehovah.’«

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