CHAPTER 27 Aug. 6 
Slaves of Nebuchadnezzar
In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, came this word to Jeremiah from Yahweh saying, 2Thus says Yahweh to me: Make bonds and bars and put them on your neck; 3and send them to the king of Edom, to the king of Moab, to the king of the children of Ammon, to the king of Tyre and to the king of Sidon, by the hand of the messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah; 4and give them a command to their masters saying, Thus says Yahweh of Armies the God of Israel, You shall tell your masters: 5I have made the earth, the men and the animals that are on the surface of the earth, by My great power and by My outstretched arm; and I give it to whom it seems right to Me. 6Now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant; and the animals of the field also have I given him to serve him. 7All the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the time of his own land come: and then many nations and great kings shall make him their bond servant. 8It shall happen, that the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, says Yahweh, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the plague, until I have consumed them by his hand. 9But as for you, don’t you listen to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreams, nor to your soothsayers, nor to your sorcerers, who speak to you saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon: 10for they prophesy a lie to you, to remove you far from your land, and that I should drive you out, and you should perish. 11But the nation that shall bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, that nation will I let remain in their own land, says Yahweh; and they shall till it, and dwell therein.
Message for Zedekiah
12I spoke 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. 13Why will you die, you and your people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as Yahweh has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? 14Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon; for they prophesy a lie to you. 15For I have not sent them, says Yahweh, but they prophesy falsely in My name; that I may drive you out, and that you may perish, you, and the prophets who prophesy to you.
Serve the King of Babylon and Live
16Also I spoke to the priests and to all this people saying, Thus says Yahweh: Don’t listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you saying, Behold, the vessels of Yahweh’s house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon; for they prophesy a lie to you. 17Don’t listen to them; serve the king of Babylon, and live: why should this city become a desolation? 18But if they be prophets, and if the word of Yahweh be with them, let them now make intercession to Yahweh of Armies, that the vessels which are left in the house of Yahweh, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, don’t go to Babylon. 19For thus says Yahweh of Armies concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that are left in this city, 20which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon didn’t take, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; 21yes, thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of Yahweh, and in the house of the king of Judah and at Jerusalem: 22They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be, until the day that I visit them, says Yahweh; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.

Commentary

27:3 The messengers who come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah- Instead of trusting solely in God, Zedekiah was trying to make alliances with other nations to stave off the Babylonian invasion. But the message was again that all such human might would fail, and total repentance was the only way for Judah to be saved.
27:5 If God takes away from us what we have been accustomed to having- in Judah’s case, their independence as a nation- then we should recognize that God as creator of all has the right to do this, and that nothing we have, be it material or immaterial, is personally ours. This is one outcome of believing in God as creator rather than in atheistic evolution.
27:6 And the animals of the field also- This is emphasized several times. We see thereby God’s huge sensitivity to the natural creation. It also opens up the possibility that there is a latent spirituality within all of creation; God is in some sense in contact with them. Rom. 8:19-23 seems to hint that the natural creation will in some sense be delivered into a new spiritual dimension at Christ’s return and the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth. 
27:14 Speaking God’s truth made Jeremiah everybody’s enemy. His own people, from the masses to the leadership, the religious leaders and their false prophets, the surrounding Gentile nations- all were insulted by what he had to say. There are times in our own ministries when we will be left alone because of our loyalty to God’s word- or so it will seem.
27:21 It would appear that the expensive vessels of God’s house had been taken into the house of the king. We must learn the lesson, not to use the things of God’s spiritual house for our own personal benefit.