Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck, and brake it.

JEREMIAH 28:10KJV
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Jeremiah 28:10 (KJV)

What does Jeremiah 28:10 mean?

Jeremiah 28:10 describes how Hananiah, who is called a prophet, takes the wooden yoke off Jeremiah’s neck and breaks it in front of others. This act is a public gesture meant to challenge Jeremiah’s message and to symbolize Hananiah’s claim that God will soon break Babylon’s power over Judah.

The scene takes place in Jerusalem, where Jeremiah has been wearing a yoke as a sign of coming Babylonian domination. Hananiah, presenting himself as a prophet, confronts Jeremiah and physically breaks the yoke, making a dramatic statement that opposes Jeremiah’s warning. This moment is a clash between two prophetic messages—one of warning and submission, the other of promised deliverance.

The Hebrew behind Jeremiah 28:10

  • יָּקַח (laqach, “took”): This word often means to seize or take hold of, showing that Hananiah’s action is deliberate and forceful, not accidental or gentle.
  • מוֹטָה (motah, “yoke”): This refers to a wooden bar used to harness animals, here worn by Jeremiah as a symbol of submission to Babylon. The breaking of the yoke is meant to visually reject Jeremiah’s prophecy.
  • שָׁבַר (shavar, “brake”): This verb means to break or shatter, emphasizing the dramatic and public nature of Hananiah’s action.

Why Jeremiah 28:10 matters

  • Jeremiah 28:10 highlights the conflict between two prophets, showing how public and physical acts were used to communicate competing messages about God’s will.
  • The verse sets up the tension for what follows, as Jeremiah must respond to Hananiah’s bold challenge and the people must decide whom to believe.
  • Understanding the symbolism of the yoke and its breaking helps clarify the stakes: Hananiah’s act is not just about wood, but about rejecting the warning of coming hardship and offering false hope.

Where else these words appear

“yoke” Hebrew H4133 · used in 10 verses

  • Leviticus 26:13 I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that ye should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.
  • Isaiah 58:9 Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
  • Jeremiah 28:13 Go and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Thou hast broken the yokes of wood; but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron.

“Hananiah” Hebrew H2608 · used in 28 verses

  • 1 Chronicles 3:19 And the sons of Pedaiah were, Zerubbabel, and Shimei: and the sons of Zerubbabel; Meshullam, and Hananiah, and Shelomith their sister:
  • Nehemiah 7:2 That I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Jerusalem: for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many.
  • Jeremiah 28:15 Then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, Hear now, Hananiah; The LORD hath not sent thee; but thou makest this people to trust in a lie.

“neck” Hebrew H6677 · used in 39 verses

  • Genesis 27:16 And she put the skins of the kids of the goats upon his hands, and upon the smooth of his neck:
  • Job 15:26 He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:
  • Jeremiah 27:8 And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.

“Jeremiah's” Hebrew H3414 · used in 133 verses

  • 2 Kings 23:31 Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
  • Jeremiah 29:1 Now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives, and to the priests, and to the prophets, and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon;
  • Jeremiah 38:9 My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city.