What does Jeremias Chapter 28 say, and which statements belong to its speaker?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Hananias’s two-year claim meets a fulfillment test. Broken wood and iron yoke precede an unsent-prophet accusation. The stated death year and seventh month complete the account.

Chapter breakdown

Jeremias 28 dates Hananias son of Azur of Gabaon's speech to Sedecias's fourth year, fifth month, before priests and people in the Lord's house. He claims Babylon's yoke broken and promises vessels, Jechonias and all Juda's captives returned within two years. Jeremias answers Amen and wishes fulfillment, then recalls earlier prophets' war, affliction and famine. A peace prophet is known as truly sent when his word comes to pass.

Hananias takes and breaks the chain from Jeremias's neck, repeating the two-year promise for all nations. Jeremias goes his way; silence, attempted assault and motives for avoiding an altercation are not recorded. The ensuing word commands Hananias be told that broken wood chains mean making iron chains; the Lord gives nations an iron yoke to serve Nabuchodonosor, with beasts also given.

Jeremias says Hananias was unsent and made the people trust a lie. He announces death that year for speech against the Lord. Hananias dies in the seventh month. Fifth and seventh month dates are preserved without asserting an exact elapsed two months, a narrated execution method, or a general rule that every resistance makes burdens permanently unbreakable.

The story inside

Opening: Hananias’s two-year claim meets a fulfillment test. Development: Broken wood and iron yoke precede an unsent-prophet accusation. Conclusion: The stated death year and seventh month complete the account.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Hananias’s two-year claim meets a fulfillment test.
2
Broken wood and iron yoke precede an unsent-prophet accusation.
3
The stated death year and seventh month complete the account.

Test your recall

Which images and requests does the speaker use, and what does the chapter leave unresolved?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 86873–86888
28:1. And it came to pass in that year, in the beginning of the reign of Sedecias king of Juda, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, that Hananias the son of Azur, a prophet of Gabaon spoke to me, in the house of the Lord before the priests, and all the people, saying: 28:2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. 28:3. As yet two years of days, and I will cause all the vessels of the house of the Lord to be brought back into this place, which Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried them to Babylon. 28:4. And I will bring back to this place Jechonias the son of Joakim king of Juda, and all the captives of Juda, that are gone to Babylon, saith the Lord: for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.
Lines 86917–86938
28:12. And Jeremias the prophet went his way. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, after that Hananias the prophet had broken the chain from off the neck of Jeremias the prophet, saying: 28:13. Go, and tell Hananias: Thus saith the Lord: Thou hast broken chains of wood, and thou shalt make for them chains of iron. 28:14. For thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: I have put a yoke of iron upon the neck of all these nations, to serve Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon, and they shall serve him: moreover also I have given him the beasts of the earth. 28:15. And Jeremias the prophet said to Hananias the prophet: Hear now, Hananias: the Lord hath not sent thee, and thou hast made this people to trust in a lie. 28:16. Therefore thus saith the Lord: Behold I will send thee away from off the face of the earth: this year shalt thou die: for thou hast spoken against the Lord. 28:17. And Hananias the prophet died in that year, in the seventh month.