Cities of Judah Warned
1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord, saying,
2 “Thus says the Lord, ‘Stand in the court of the Lord’s house [Jeremiah], and speak to all [the people of] the cities of Judah who have come to worship in the Lord’s house all the words that I have commanded you to speak to them. Do not omit a word!
3 It may be that they will listen and everyone will turn from his wickedness, so that I may relent and reverse [My decision concerning] the disaster which I am planning to do to them because of their malevolent deeds.’
4 And you will say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, “If you will not listen to Me and obey My law which I have set before you,
5 and listen and follow [carefully] the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have been sending to you repeatedly—though you have not listened—
6 then I will make this house [the temple] like (a)Shiloh, and I will make this city [subject to] the curse of all nations of the earth [because it will be so vile in their sight].”’”(A)
A Plot to Murder Jeremiah
7 The priests and the [false] prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord.
8 Now when Jeremiah finished proclaiming everything that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the [false] prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You must die!
9 Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord saying, ‘This house will be like Shiloh [after the ark of the Lord had been taken by our enemies] and this city [Jerusalem] will be desolate, without inhabitant’?” And all the people were gathered around Jeremiah in the [outer area of the] house of the Lord.
10 When the (b)princes (court officials) of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of the Lord and sat in the entrance of the New Gate of the house of the Lord.
11 Then the priests and the [false] prophets said to the princes and to all the people, “This man is deserving of death, for he has prophesied against this city as you have heard with your own ears.”
12 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and to all the people, saying, “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.
13 Therefore, now change your ways and your deeds and obey the voice of the Lord your God; then the Lord will relent and reverse His decision concerning the misfortune which He has pronounced against you.
14 As for me, behold, I am in your hands; do with me as seems good and suitable to you.
15 But know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on its inhabitants, for in truth the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.”
Jeremiah Is Spared
16 Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and to the [false] prophets, “This man is not deserving of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.”
17 Then some of the elders of the land stood up and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying,
18 “Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts,
19 “Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put Micah to death? Did he not [reverently] fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord? And did not the Lord relent and reverse His decision concerning the misfortune which He had pronounced against them? But [here] we are [thinking of] committing a great evil against ourselves.”
20 And there was also a man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath-jearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land in words similar to all those of Jeremiah.
21 And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put Uriah to death; but when Uriah heard of it, he was afraid and fled and escaped to Egypt.
22 Then Jehoiakim the king sent men to Egypt: Elnathan the son of Achbor and certain [other] men with him [went] to Egypt.
23 And they brought Uriah [God’s spokesman] from Egypt and led him to King Jehoiakim, who executed him with a sword and threw his dead body among the graves of the common people.
Footnotes:
a.
Jeremiah 26:6: Shiloh was once the home of the Tent of Meeting, but it was abandoned and later destroyed after the ark was captured by the Philistines.
b.
Jeremiah 26:10: The leaders were authorized to settle legal matters.
c.
Jeremiah 26:18: This prophecy of Micah, made in the days of King Hezekiah, that Mount Zion would become a plowed field was fulfilled when Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans took Jerusalem and broke down the walls (2 Kin 25:10). That was in 586 b.c. In a.d. 1542 the present walls of Jerusalem were built by Suleiman the Magnificent, the greatest of the Turkish sultans. By some strange error, the part of the city known as Mount Zion was omitted from the enclosure and remained outside the walls; for centuries it was literally “plowed like a field” just as Micah foretold.