Jeremiah 27:12
I spake also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live. I spake also to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.
This counsel belongs to a series of warnings given to Judah as Babylonian danger drew near, forming part of Jeremiah's testimony amid the conflict between true and false prophets shortly after the Babylonian captivity began. It was addressed directly to Zedekiah king of Judah and to his people, commanding them to submit to Babylonian rule rather than resist its rulers. That submission meant maintaining friendly and honorable relations with Babylon and heeding the messages given through Jeremiah.
The yoke was the sign of accepting this servitude as decreed by God, not as a permanent bondage but as a temporary subjection limited to the period He had appointed, after which He would deliver the captives. Obedience to this command would preserve the people and let them live, while refusal would bring harsher punishment upon them. Had they obeyed, those remaining in Judah would have been spared the terrible calamities that afterward fell upon them.
By acting honorably toward the Babylonians, Zedekiah could have retained their respect and confidence, helped make the true God known to them, and secured greater liberty and advantage for the exiles already in Babylon. These prophecies of Jeremiah, including this message of submission, were afterward studied by Daniel as he sought to understand the promised seventy-year desolation of Jerusalem.