Jeremiah 26
26
Change the Way You’re Living
1At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this Message came from God to Jeremiah:
2-3“God’s Message: Stand in the court of God’s Temple and preach to the people who come from all over Judah to worship in God’s Temple. Say everything I tell you to say to them. Don’t hold anything back. Just maybe they’ll listen and turn back from their bad lives. Then I’ll reconsider the disaster that I’m planning to bring on them because of their evil behavior.
4-6“Say to them, ‘This is God’s Message: If you refuse to listen to me and live by my teaching that I’ve revealed so plainly to you, and if you continue to refuse to listen to my servants the prophets that I tirelessly keep on sending to you—but you’ve never listened! Why would you start now?—then I’ll make this Temple a pile of ruins like Shiloh, and I’ll make this city nothing but a bad joke worldwide.’”
7-9Everybody there—priests, prophets, and people—heard Jeremiah preaching this Message in the Temple of God. When Jeremiah had finished his sermon, saying everything God had commanded him to say, the priests and prophets and people all grabbed him, yelling, “Death! You’re going to die for this! How dare you preach—and using God’s name!—saying that this Temple will become a heap of rubble like Shiloh and this city be wiped out without a soul left in it!”
All the people mobbed Jeremiah right in the Temple itself.
* * *
10Officials from the royal court of Judah were told of this. They left the palace immediately and came to God’s Temple to investigate. They held court on the spot, at the New Gate entrance to God’s Temple.
11The prophets and priests spoke first, addressing the officials, but also the people: “Death to this man! He deserves nothing less than death! He has preached against this city—you’ve heard the evidence with your own ears.”
12-13Jeremiah spoke next, publicly addressing the officials before the crowd: “God sent me to preach against both this Temple and city everything that’s been reported to you. So do something about it! Change the way you’re living, change your behavior. Listen obediently to the Message of your God. Maybe God will reconsider the disaster he has threatened.
14-15“As for me, I’m at your mercy—do whatever you think is best. But take warning: If you kill me, you’re killing an innocent man, and you and the city and the people in it will be liable. I didn’t say any of this on my own. God sent me and told me what to say. You’ve been listening to God speak, not Jeremiah.”
16The court officials, backed by the people, then handed down their ruling to the priests and prophets: “Acquittal. No death sentence for this man. He has spoken to us with the authority of our God.”
17-18Then some of the respected leaders stood up and addressed the crowd: “In the reign of Hezekiah king of Judah, Micah of Moresheth preached to the people of Judah this sermon: This is God-of-the-Angel-Armies’ Message for you:
“‘Because of people like you,
Zion will be turned back into farmland,
Jerusalem end up as a pile of rubble,
and instead of the Temple on the mountain,
a few scraggly scrub pines.’
19“Did King Hezekiah or anyone else in Judah kill Micah of Moresheth because of that sermon? Didn’t Hezekiah honor him and pray for mercy from God? And then didn’t God call off the disaster he had threatened?
“Friends, we’re at the brink of bringing a terrible calamity upon ourselves.”
* * *
20-23(At another time there had been a man, Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim, who had preached similarly in the name of God. He preached against this same city and country just as Jeremiah did. When King Jehoiakim and his royal court heard his sermon, they determined to kill him. Uriah, afraid for his life, went into hiding in Egypt. King Jehoiakim sent Elnathan son of Achbor with a posse of men after him. They brought him back from Egypt and presented him to the king. And the king had him killed. They dumped his body unceremoniously outside the city.
24But in Jeremiah’s case, Ahikam son of Shaphan stepped forward and took his side, preventing the mob from lynching him.)
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Jeremiah 26: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Jeremiah 26
26
Jeremiah Escapes Death
1At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, this word came from Yahweh, saying,#Literally “to say” 2“Thus says Yahweh: ‘Stand in the courtyard of the house of Yahweh, and you must speak to all the cities of Judah that come to bow in worship in the house of Yahweh all the words that I command you to speak to them. You must not omit a word. 3Perhaps they will listen and turn back each from his evil way, and I will relent of the disaster that I am planning to do to them because of their evil deeds. 4And you shall say to them, “Thus says Yahweh: ‘If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set#Or “given” before you,#Literally “to the face of you” 5to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I have sent to you, over and over again,#Literally “and doing early and sending” though you have not listened, 6then I will make this house like Shiloh, and this city I will make a curse for all the nations of the earth.’ ” ’ ”
7And the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the temple of Yahweh. 8And then#Literally “And it happened” as Jeremiah finished speaking all that Yahweh had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying,#Literally “to say” “You will die! 9Why have you prophesied in the name of Yahweh, saying,#Literally “to say” ‘This house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be in ruins, without#Literally “from there is not” inhabitant’?” And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the temple of Yahweh.
10When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the house of the king to the temple of Yahweh, and they sat in the entrance of the New Gate of Yahweh’s temple. 11Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, saying,#Literally “to say” “This man deserves the death sentence,#Literally “A sentence of death is to this man” because he has prophesied against this city as that which you have heard with your ears.”
12Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and to all the people, saying,#Literally “to say” “Yahweh sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. 13Now therefore#Literally “so then” amend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of Yahweh your God, and Yahweh will relent of the disaster that he has spoken over you. 14But as for me, look, I am in your hand, do to me what is good and right in your eyes. 15Only you must certainly know that if you put me to death, you will bring on yourselves innocent blood, and on this city and on its inhabitants, for truly#Literally “in truth” Yahweh sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”
16Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, “This man does not deserve#Literally “Not to this man” a sentence of death, for in the name of Yahweh our God, he has spoken to us.” 17Then men from the elders of the land arose and said to all the assembly of the people, saying,#Literally “to say” 18“Micah the Morashtite was prophesying in the days of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and he said to all the people of Judah, saying:#Literally “to say”
‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts,
“Zion will be plowed,
and Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,
and the mountain of the temple#Literally “house” as high places of wood.” ’
19Did Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and all Judah actually put him to death? Was he not in fear of Yahweh? And he entreated the face of Yahweh, and Yahweh relented of the disaster that he had spoken against them. But we are about to do great disaster to ourselves.”
20Indeed, there also was a man prophesying in the name of Yahweh, Uriah, the son of Shemaiah, from Kiriath-Jearim, and he prophesied against this city and against this land like all the words of Jeremiah. 21And when King Jehoiakim, and all his warriors, and all the officials heard his words, then the king sought to put him to death. But Uriah heard, and he was afraid, and he fled and went to Egypt. 22Then King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt. Elnathan, the son of Achbor, and men with him went to Egypt. 23And they brought out Uriah from Egypt and they brought him to King Jehoiakim, and he struck him down with the sword, and he threw his dead body into the burial sites of the sons of the people. 24However, the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that he was not given into the hand of the people to put him to death.
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