ζυγός

From the study of 1 Timothy 6:1

Range of meaning

(1) A yoke, the crossbar joining draught animals or laid on a captive's neck. (2) Figuratively, subjection, servitude, or a set of obligations. (3) The beam of a pair of scales, and so the scales themselves.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and YLT keep the bare image ("under the yoke"). BSB and NIV spell it out as "the yoke of slavery," which is correct in meaning. NASB's "under the yoke as slaves" keeps the Greek structure.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lev 26:13 LXX: God "broke the bars of your yoke" when he freed Israel from Egyptian slavery. Sirach 33:26 (LXX 30:35): "yoke and strap" for the slave. Gal 5:1: "a yoke of slavery." Jesus offers his own "yoke" (Matt 11:29–30), and Acts 15:10 calls the Law a yoke. These are related uses of the same figure.

From the study of Galatians 5:1

Range of meaning

(1) The yoke, a wooden crossbar joining draft animals to a plough or cart. (2) Figuratively, subjection to a master, a conqueror, or an obligation. (3) The beam of a pair of scales (e.g. Rev 6:5).

Against the English

Modern readers may hear just 'a burden' or a farm picture. In Jewish speech of Paul's day, 'yoke' was also a religious term, often a positive one, for accepting God's rule and his law. English cannot show that Paul is turning a term of devotion into a term of bondage.

How it drifted

Not a drift in meaning so much as a lost idiom. English has no equivalent to the Jewish phrase 'take upon oneself the yoke of the Torah'.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lev 26:13: God 'broke the bars of your yoke' when he brought Israel out of Egypt, so release from Egyptian slavery is pictured as a yoke broken. Jer 27–28: the yoke of Babylon. Sir 51:26: 'put your neck under her [Wisdom's] yoke'. The Mishnah, compiled about AD 200 but drawing on earlier tradition: 'the yoke of the kingdom of heaven' and 'the yoke of the commandments' (m. Berakhot 2:2), and 'whoever takes on himself the yoke of the Torah…' (m. Avot 3:5). In the NT: Jesus' 'my yoke is easy' (Matt 11:29–30); Peter on the law as 'a yoke… which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear' (Acts 15:10); 'under the yoke as slaves' (1 Tim 6:1).

From the study of Matthew 11:29

Range of meaning

Literally the wooden crossbar joining draft animals to a plow or cart (also, separately, the beam of a pair of scales). As a figure of speech it means (1) subjection to a ruler or foreign power (Babylon's yoke in Jer 27–28; Gal 5:1 'yoke of slavery'), and (2) in Jewish teaching, obligations a person willingly accepts under God: the 'yoke of the Torah', the 'yoke of the commandments', the 'yoke of the kingdom of heaven'.

Against the English

Every English version says 'yoke', which is accurate. But most modern readers have never seen one and do not know the Jewish idiom, so they hear only 'a heavy load' or 'farm gear'. The Jewish image of a teaching that a disciple accepts and lives under drops out.

How it drifted

Not a change in the English word but a lost idiom. Once the rabbinic and wisdom background was forgotten, the image was left to modern rural sermon pictures (paired oxen, custom-fitted yokes).

Used elsewhere in the period

Sirach 51:26 (2nd century BC): Wisdom's teacher calls, 'Put your neck under the yoke, and let your souls receive instruction'; 51:27 adds that he 'labored little and found much rest' (ἀνάπαυσιν). Sirach 6:24–30 speaks of Wisdom's fetters and collar. Psalms of Solomon 7:9 'we are under your yoke forever'; 17:30 the Messiah keeps the nations under his yoke. Mishnah Berakhot 2:2 speaks of accepting 'the yoke of the kingdom of heaven' before 'the yoke of the commandments'; Mishnah Avot 3:5 says whoever takes on 'the yoke of Torah' is freed from the yoke of government and worldly cares (both written down around AD 200, but drawing on older idiom). In the New Testament, Acts 15:10 calls the demand that Gentiles keep the Law a yoke 'neither our fathers nor we could bear'.