Lexicon :: Strong's G2218 - zygos

You will live by your sword,

and you will serve your brother.

But when you rebel,[fn]

you will break his yoke from your neck.

“Do not be unfair in measurements of length, weight, or volume.

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, so that you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to live in freedom.[fn]

“This is the legal statute that the LORD has commanded: Instruct the Israelites to bring you an unblemished red cow that has no defect and has never been yoked.

“The elders of the city nearest to the victim are to get a young cow that has not been yoked or used for work.

“Your father made our yoke harsh. Therefore, lighten your father’s harsh service and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”

He asked them, “What message do you advise we send back to this people who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’? ”

and spoke to them according to the young men’s advice, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy,[fn] but I will add to it; my father disciplined you with whips, but I, with barbed whips.”

If only my grief could be weighed

and my devastation placed with it on the scales.

let God weigh me on accurate scales,

and he will recognize my integrity.

Can you hold the wild ox to a furrow by its harness?

Will it plow the valleys behind you?

“Let’s tear off their chains

and throw their ropes off of us.”

Common people are only a vapor;

important people, an illusion.

Together on a scale,

they weigh less than[fn] a vapor.

Dishonest scales are detestable to the LORD,

but an accurate weight is his delight.

Honest balances and scales are the LORD’s;

all the weights in the bag are his concern.

Differing weights[fn] are detestable to the LORD,

and dishonest scales are unfair.

Woe to those who drag iniquity

with cords of deceit

and pull sin along with cart ropes,

For you have shattered their oppressive yoke

and the rod on their shoulders,

the staff of their oppressor,

just as you did on the day of Midian.

On that day

his burden will fall from your shoulders,

and his yoke from your neck.

The yoke will be broken because your neck will be too large.[fn]

The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked,

the scepter of the rulers.

I will break Assyria in my land;

I will tread him down on my mountain.

Then his yoke will be taken from them,

and his burden will be removed from their shoulders.

Don’t rejoice, all of you in Philistia,

because the rod of the one who struck you is broken.

For a viper will come from the root[fn] of a snake,

and from its egg comes a flying serpent.

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand

or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand?

Who has gathered the dust of the earth in a measure

or weighed the mountains on a balance

and the hills on the scales?

Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket;

they are considered as a speck of dust on the scales;

he lifts up the islands like fine dust.

“Those who pour out their bags of gold

and weigh out silver on scales —

they hire a goldsmith and he makes it into a god.

Then they kneel and bow down to it.

“I was angry with my people;

I profaned my possession,

and I handed them over to you.

You showed them no mercy;

you made your yoke very heavy on the elderly.

For long ago I[fn] broke your yoke;

I[fn] tore off your chains.

You insisted, “I will not serve! ”

On every high hill

and under every green tree

you lay down like a prostitute.

I will go to the powerful

and speak to them.

Surely they know the way of the LORD,

the justice of their God.

However, these also had broken the yoke

and torn off the chains.

“ ‘ “As for the nation or kingdom that does not serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and does not place its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish by sword, famine, and plague ​— ​this is the LORD’s declaration ​— ​until through him I have destroyed it.

“But as for the nation that will put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave it in its own land, and that nation will cultivate[fn] it and reside in it. This is the LORD’s declaration.” ’ ”

“This is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

“And I will restore to this place Jeconiah[fn] son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon’ ​— ​this is the LORD’s declaration ​— ​‘for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’ ”

In the presence of all the people Hananiah proclaimed, “This is what the LORD says: ‘In this way, within two years I will break the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon from the neck of all the nations.’ ” The prophet Jeremiah then went on his way.

“For this is what the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I have put an iron yoke on the neck of all these nations that they might serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and they will serve him. I have even put the wild animals under him.’ ”

On that day —

this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies —

I will break his yoke from your neck

and tear off your chains,

and strangers will never again enslave him.

“I recorded it on a scroll, sealed it, called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales.

It is good for a man to bear the yoke

while he is still young.

“Now you, son of man, take a sharp sword, use it as you would a barber’s razor, and shave your head and beard. Then take a set of scales and divide the hair.

“The trees of the field will yield their fruit, and the land will yield its produce; my flock will be secure in their land. They will know that I am the LORD when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the power of those who enslave them.

“You are to have honest scales, an honest dry measure,[fn] and an honest liquid measure.[fn]

“‘Tekel’[fn] means that you have been weighed[fn] on the balance and found deficient.

“He will cause deceit to prosper

through his cunning and by his influence,

and in his own mind he will exalt himself.

He will destroy many in a time of peace;

he will even stand against the Prince of princes.

Yet he will be broken ​— ​not by human hands.

A merchant loves to extort

with dishonest scales in his hands.

asking, “When will the New Moon be over

so we may sell grain,

and the Sabbath,

so we may market wheat?

We can reduce the measure

while increasing the price[fn]

and cheat with dishonest scales.

“Can I excuse wicked scales

or bags of deceptive weights?

For I will then restore

pure speech to the peoples

so that all of them may call

on the name of the LORD

and serve him with a single purpose.[fn]