Jeremiah
Chapter 26
1 At the start of Jehoiakim’s rule, the son of King Josiah of Judah, God sent this message:
2 God says, “Stand in the yard of God’s house, and talk to all the people from the towns of Judah who come to worship in God’s house. Tell them everything I tell you to say; don’t leave out a single word.”
3 If they listen and each person stops doing bad things, then I will change my mind about the punishment I planned for them because of their bad actions.
4 Tell them this: If you don’t listen to me and follow the laws I’ve given you, God says.
5 Listen to my prophets’ words that I sent to you, waking them early and sending them, but you did not listen.
6 I will make this house like Shiloh and will make this city a curse to all the countries of the world.
7 The priests, prophets, and everyone heard Jeremiah say these things in God’s house.
8 When Jeremiah finished telling the people everything God had commanded him to say, the priests, prophets, and everyone there grabbed him and said, “You will certainly die.”
9 Why did you prophesy in God’s name, saying, “This place will be like Shiloh, and this city will be empty with no one living here?” And all the people turned against Jeremiah in God’s house.
10 When the leaders of Judah heard this news, they went up from the king’s palace to God’s house and sat at the entrance of the new gate of God’s house.
11 The priests and prophets told the leaders and everyone, “This man should be put to death because he spoke against our city, as you all heard.”
12 Jeremiah spoke to all the leaders and the people, saying, “God sent me to tell about the coming trouble for this place and this city, all the things you have heard.
13 So now change how you live and act, and listen to God’s voice; then God will change his mind about the harm he said he would do to you.
14 As for me, I am in your power: do to me what you think is good and right.
15 But be sure, if you kill me, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city, and on its people, because God truly sent me to tell you all these things.
16 Then the leaders and all the people said to the priests and prophets, “This man should not be put to death, for he has spoken to us in the name of our God.”
17 Some elders stood up and spoke to all the people gathered, saying,
18 Micah, from Moresheth, told God’s message when Hezekiah was king of Judah. He said to Judah’s people: “God says, ‘Zion will be farmed like a field, Jerusalem will turn into piles of rubble, and the Temple hill will be like overgrown hills in the woods.’”
19 Did King Hezekiah of Judah and all of Judah kill him? Didn’t he respect God, ask for God’s mercy, and God changed his mind about the bad things he said he would do to them? We could bring a lot of trouble on ourselves this way.
20 A man named Urijah, Shemaiah’s son from Kirjathjearim, also spoke for God. He said the same things against this city and land as Jeremiah did.
21 When King Jehoiakim, his strong soldiers, and all the leaders heard the prophet’s words, the king wanted to kill him. But Urijah became scared when he heard this, ran away, and escaped to Egypt.
22 King Jehoiakim sent Elnathan, the son of Achbor, and some other men to Egypt.
23 They took Urijah from Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, who killed him with a sword and threw his body into the burial place of the ordinary people.
24 Ahikam son of Shaphan helped Jeremiah so that no one handed him over to the people to kill him.