Jeremiah 26
26
Jeremiah's Message in the Temple
(Jeremiah 7.1-15)
1 #
2 K 23.36—24.6; 2 Ch 36.5-7. Soon after Jehoiakim#26.1 Jehoiakim: See the note at 1.3. became king of Judah, the Lord said:
2Jeremiah, I have a message for everyone who comes from the towns of Judah to worship in my temple. Go to the temple courtyard and speak every word that I tell you. 3Maybe the people will listen this time. And if they stop doing wrong, I will change my mind and not punish them for their sins. 4Tell them that I have said:
You have refused to listen to me and to obey my laws and teachings. 5Again and again I have sent my servants the prophets to preach to you, but you ignored them as well. Now I am warning you that if you don't start obeying me at once, 6#Js 18.1; Ps 78.60; Jr 7.12-14. I will destroy this temple, just as I destroyed the town of Shiloh.#26.6 Shiloh: The sacred tent had once stood at Shiloh. Then everyone on earth will use the name “Jerusalem” as a curse word.
Jeremiah on Trial
7The priests, the prophets, and everyone else in the temple heard what I said, 8-9and as soon as I finished, they all crowded around me and started shouting, “Why did you preach that the Lord will destroy this temple, just as he destroyed Shiloh? Why did you say that Jerusalem will be empty and lie in ruins? You ought to be put to death for saying such things in the Lord's name!” Then they had me arrested.
10The royal officers heard what had happened, and they came from the palace to the new gate of the temple to be the judges at my trial.#26.10 new gate … trial: Public trials were often held in an open area at a gate of a city, palace, or temple. 11While they listened, the priests and the prophets said to the crowd, “All of you have heard Jeremiah prophesy that Jerusalem will be destroyed. He deserves the death penalty.”
12-13Then I told the judges and everyone else:
The Lord himself sent me to tell you about the terrible things he will do to you, to Jerusalem, and to the temple. But if you change your ways and start obeying the Lord, he will change his mind.
14You must decide what to do with me. Just do whatever you think is right. 15But if you put me to death, you and everyone else in Jerusalem will be guilty of murdering an innocent man, because everything I preached came from the Lord.
16The judges and the other people told the priests and prophets, “Since Jeremiah only told us what the Lord our God had said, we don't think he deserves to die.”
17Then some of the leaders from other towns stepped forward. They told the crowd that 18#Mic 3.12. years ago when Hezekiah#26.18 Hezekiah: Ruled 716–687 b.c. was king of Judah, a prophet named Micah from the town of Moresheth had said:
“I, the Lord All-Powerful, say
Jerusalem will be plowed under
and left in ruins.
Thorns will cover the mountain
where the temple
now stands.”#26.18 Jerusalem … stands: See Micah 3.12.
19Then the leaders continued:
No one put Micah to death for saying that. Instead, King Hezekiah prayed to the Lord with fear and trembling and asked him to have mercy. Then the Lord decided not to destroy Jerusalem, even though he had already said he would.
People of Judah, if Jeremiah is killed, we will bring a terrible disaster on ourselves.
20-24After these leaders finished speaking, an important man named Ahikam son of Shaphan spoke up for me as well. And so, I wasn't handed over to the crowd to be killed.
Uriah the Prophet
While Jehoiakim#26.20-24 Jehoiakim: See the note at 1.3. was still king of Judah, a man named Uriah son of Shemaiah left his hometown of Kiriath-Jearim and came to Jerusalem. Uriah was one of the Lord's prophets, and he was saying the same things about Judah and Jerusalem that I had been saying. And when Jehoiakim and his officials and military officers heard what Uriah said, they tried to arrest him, but he escaped to Egypt. So Jehoiakim sent Elnathan son of Achbor and some other men after Uriah, and they brought him back. Then Jehoiakim had Uriah killed and his body dumped in a common burial pit.
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Jeremiah 26: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 26
26
Jeremiah Threatened with Death. 1In the beginning of the reign#The beginning of the reign: a technical expression for the time between a king’s accession to the throne and the beginning of his first official (calendar) year as king. Jehoiakim’s first regnal year was 608 B.C. of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord: 2Thus says the Lord: Stand in the court of the house of the Lord and speak to the inhabitants of all the cities of Judah who come to worship in the house of the Lord; whatever I command you, tell them, and hold nothing back.#Jer 7:2. 3Perhaps they will listen and turn, all of them from their evil way, so that I may repent of the evil I plan to inflict upon them for their evil deeds.#Jer 18:3. 4Say to them: Thus says the Lord: If you do not obey me, by walking according to the law I set before you 5and listening to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I kept sending you, even though you do not listen to them,#Jer 25:4. 6I will treat this house like Shiloh, and make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.#Jer 7:12, 14.
7Now the priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. 8When Jeremiah finished speaking all that the Lord commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests, the prophets, and all the people laid hold of him, crying, “You must die! 9Why do you prophesy in the name of the Lord: ‘This house shall become like Shiloh,’ and ‘This city shall be desolate, without inhabitant’?” And all the people crowded around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.
10When the princes of Judah heard about these things, they came up from the house of the king to the house of the Lord and convened at the New Gate of the house of the Lord. 11The priests and prophets said to the princes and to all the people, “Sentence this man to death! He has prophesied against this city! You heard it with your own ears.”#Jer 38:4. 12Jeremiah said to the princes and all the people: “It was the Lord who sent me to prophesy against this house and city everything you have heard. 13Now, therefore, reform your ways and your deeds; listen to the voice of the Lord your God, so that the Lord will have a change of heart regarding the evil he has spoken against you.#Jer 7:3. 14As for me, I am in your hands; do with me what is good and right in your eyes. 15But you should certainly know that by putting me to death, you bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city and its inhabitants. For in truth it was the Lord who sent me to you, to speak all these words for you to hear.”
16Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “This man does not deserve a death sentence; it is in the name of the Lord, our God, that he speaks to us.” 17At this, some of the elders of the land arose and said to the whole assembly of the people, 18“Micah of Moresheth#Micah of Moresheth: the prophet Micah, who appears among the canonical minor prophets (cf. Mi 1:1). used to prophesy in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and he said to all the people of Judah: Thus says the Lord of hosts:
Zion shall be plowed as a field,
Jerusalem, a heap of ruins,
and the temple mount,
a forest ridge.#Mi 1:1; 3:12.
19Did Hezekiah, king of Judah, and all Judah condemn him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord, so that the Lord had a change of heart regarding the evil he had spoken against them? We, however, are about to do great evil against ourselves.”#2 Chr 32:26.
The Fate of Uriah. 20There was another man who used to prophesy in the name of the Lord, Uriah, son of Shemaiah, from Kiriath-jearim; he prophesied against this city and this land the same message as Jeremiah. 21When King Jehoiakim and all his officers and princes heard his words, the king sought to have him killed. But Uriah heard of it and fled in fear to Egypt. 22Then King Jehoiakim sent Elnathan, son of Achbor, and others with him into Egypt, 23and they brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to Jehoiakim the king, who struck him down with the sword and threw his corpse into the common burial ground. 24But the hand of Ahikam, son of Shaphan,#Ahikam, son of Shaphan: one of Josiah’s officials (2 Kgs 22:12) and Jeremiah’s friend. He was the father of Gedaliah, who was governor of Judah after Zedekiah’s deportation (cf. Jer 39:14; 40:5–7). protected Jeremiah, so they did not hand him over to the people to be put to death.
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