The Anselm Project

Chapter 26

¹ In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the LORD, saying: ² Thus says the LORD: Stand in the court of the house of the LORD and speak to all the cities of Judah, the ones coming to bow down in the house of the LORD, all the words which I have commanded you to speak to them; do not diminish a word. ³ Perhaps they will hear and return, each man from his evil way, and I will relent from the evil that I am planning to do to them because of the evil of their deeds. ⁴ And you shall say to them, “This is what the LORD says: If you do not hear Me to walk in My Torah which I have given before you— ⁵ to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you, rising early and sending them, but you did not listen. ⁶ And I will give this house like Shiloh, and this city I will give as a curse to all the nations of the land. ⁷ And the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD. ⁸ And as Jeremiah finished speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, "Death! You shall surely die!" ⁹ Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, "This house will become a desolation and this city will be destroyed without an inhabitant," and all the people gathered to Jeremiah in the house of the LORD? ¹⁰ And the rulers of Judah heard these words, and they went up from the house of the king to the house of the LORD. And they sat at the entrance of the new gate of the LORD. ¹¹ And the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, "A judgment of death is for this man, for he has prophesied against this city just as you have heard with your ears." ¹² And Jeremiah said to all the officials and to all the people, “The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.” ¹³ And now, make good your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of the LORD your God, and the LORD will relent concerning the calamity that he spoke against you. ¹⁴ And I, here I am in your hand. Do to me what is good and right in your eyes. ¹⁵ But know this: if you put me to death, then you are putting innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and upon its inhabitants, for in truth the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears. ¹⁶ And the rulers and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, "There is no judgment of death for this man, for in the name of the LORD our God he has spoken to us." ¹⁷ And men rose up from the elders of the land and said to all the assembly of the people, saying: ¹⁸ Micaiah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and he said to all the people of Judah, saying, "Thus the LORD of Hosts has said: 'Zion shall become a plowed field, Jerusalem heaps, and the mountain of the house wooded heights for high places.'" ¹⁹ Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put to death the one put to death? Did they not fear the LORD and appease the face of the LORD, and the LORD relented concerning the disaster that he had spoken against them? And we—we are doing great evil against our vital life forces. ²⁰ There was also a man prophesying in the name of the LORD, Urijah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-yearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah. ²¹ And King Jehoiakim heard his words, and all his mighty men and all his officials, and the king sought to put him to death. And Urijah heard and feared and fled and came to Egypt. ²² King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt—Elnathan son of Achbor and men with him—to Egypt. ²³ And they brought Urijah out from Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, and he struck him with the sword and threw his impure carcass to the burial sites of the sons of the people. ²⁴ However, the hand of Ahikam son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so as not to give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.