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.
Thou hast broken the yokes of wood; but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron - not here, "Thou hast broken ... word," and "I will make ... iron" (cf. Jeremiah 28:16). The same false prophets who, by urging the Jews to rebel, had caused them to throw off the then comparatively easy yoke of Babylon, thereby themselves brought on them a more severe yoke imposed by that city. "Yokes of iron," alluding to Deuteronomy 28:48. It is better to take up a light cross in our way than to pull a heavier on our own heads. We may escape destroying providences by submitting to humbling providences. So, spiritually, contrast the "easy yoke" of Christ, which men so often set aside for legalism and ritualism, with the "yoke of bondage" of the law (Acts 15:10; Galatians 5:1).