Yoke

Hananiah the prophet “took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah’s neck, and brake it” (Jeremiah 28:10), a vivid scene in a topic about a plain farm tool. A yoke joins an animal to its load, and Scripture uses it for burdens. Often God lifts one: “I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon,” and Isaiah 10:27 speaks of “his yoke from off thy neck.” Lamentations has “the yoke of my transgressions.” Then Jesus turns the picture around: “my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). Acts 15:10 asks about a yoke that no one could bear.

14 verses

Leviticus

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

Isaiah 9:4

For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.

Isaiah 10:27

And it shall come to pass in that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing.

Jeremiah

Jeremiah 2:20

For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.

Jeremiah 5:5

I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.

Jeremiah 28:2

Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.

Jeremiah 28:4

And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah, that went into Babylon, saith the LORD: for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.

Jeremiah 28:10

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

Jeremiah 30:8

For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him:

Lamentations

Lamentations 1:14

The yoke of my transgressions is bound by his hand: they are wreathed, and come up upon my neck: he hath made my strength to fall, the Lord hath delivered me into their hands, from whom I am not able to rise up.

Lamentations 3:27

It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.

Matthew

Matthew 11:29

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

Matthew 11:30

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Acts

Acts 15:10

Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

(1.) Fitted on the neck of oxen for the purpose of binding to them the traces by which they might draw the plough, etc. (Num. 19:2; Deut. 21:3). It was a curved piece of wood called ’ol.

(2.) In Jer. 27:2; 28:10, 12 the word in the Authorized Version rendered “yoke” is motah, which properly means a “staff,” or as in the Revised Version, “bar.”

These words in the Hebrew are both used figuratively of severe bondage, or affliction, or subjection (Lev. 26:13; 1 Kings 12:4; Isa. 47:6; Lam. 1:14; 3:27). In the New Testament the word “yoke” is also used to denote servitude (Matt. 11:29, 30; Acts 15:10; Gal. 5:1).

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(3.) In 1 Sam. 11:7, 1 Kings 19:21, Job 1:3 the word thus translated is tzemed, which signifies a pair, two oxen yoked or coupled together, and hence in 1 Sam. 14:14 it represents as much land as a yoke of oxen could plough in a day, like the Latin jugum. In Isa. 5:10 this word in the plural is translated “acres.”

From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

(1.) A well-known implement of husbandry, frequently used metaphorically for subjection , e.g. (1 Kings 12:4,9-11; Isaiah 9:4; Jeremiah 5:5) hence an "iron yoke" represents an unusually galling bondage. (28:48; Jeremiah 28:13)

(2.) A pair of oxen, so termed as being yoked together. (1 Samuel 11:7; 1 Kings 19:19,21) The Hebrew term is also applied to asses, (Judges 19:10) and mules, (2 Kings 5:17) and even to a couple of riders. (Isaiah 21:7)

(3.) The term is also applied to a certain amount of land, (1 Samuel 14:14) equivalent to that which a couple of oxen could plough in a day, (Isaiah 5:10) (Authorized Version "acre"), corresponding to the Latin jugum .