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yōk:
(1) The usual word is עול, ‛oÌ„l (, etc.), less commonly the (apparently later) form מוטה, moÌ„tÌ£aÌ„h (, etc.; in Nab מוט, moÌ„tÌ£), which the Revised Version (British and American) in Jer 27; 28 translates “bar†(a most needless and obscuring change). The Greek in Apocrypha (Sirach 28:19, etc.) and in the New Testament ( f, etc.) is invariably ζυγοÌÏ‚, zugoÌs. Egyptian monuments show a yoke that consisted of a straight bar fastened to the foreheads of the cattle at the root of the horns, and such yokes were no doubt used in Palestine also; but the more usual form was one that rested on the neck (, etc.). It was provided with straight “bars†(moÌ„tÌ£oÌ„th in ; ) projecting downward, against which the shoulders of the oxen pressed, and it was held in position by thongs or “bonds†(moÌ„sÌ£eÌ„roÌ„th in ; ; ; ; 'ăghuddoÌ„th in , “bandsâ€), fastened under the animals' throats. Such yokes could of course be of any weight ( ff), depending on the nature of the work to be done, but the use of “iron yokes†(; f) must have been very rare, if, indeed, the phrase is anything more than a figure of speech.
What is meant by “the yoke on their jaws†in is quite obscure. Possibly a horse's bit is meant; possibly the phrase is a condensed form for “the yoke that prevents their feedingâ€; possibly the text is corrupt. See JAW.
The figurative use of “yoke†in the sense of “servitude†is intensely obvious (compare especially Jer 27, 28). Attention needs to be called only to , where “disciplining sorrow†is meant, and to , where the phrase is a figure for “the law of God.†This last use became popular with the Jews at a later period and it is found, e.g. in Apocrypha Baruch 41:3; Psalter of Solomon 7:9; 17:32; Ab. iii. 7,. and in this sense the phrase is employed. by Christ in f. “My yoke†here means “the service of God as I teach it†(the common interpretation, “the sorrows that I bear,†is utterly irrelevant) and the emphasis is on “my.†The contrast is not between “yoke†and “no yoke,†but between “my teaching†(light yoke) and “the current scribal teaching'; (heavy yoke).
(2) “Yoke†in the sense of “a pair of oxen†is צמד, cemedh (, etc.), or ζεῦγος, zeuÌgos ().
See also UNEQUAL; YOKE-FELLOW.