Jeremiah's Message in the Temple
(Jeremiah 7.1-15)1 Soon after Jehoiakim became king of Judah, the Lord said:
2 Jeremiah, 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. 3 Maybe the people will listen this time. And if they stop doing wrong, I will change my mind and not punish them for their sins. 4 Tell them that I have said:
You have refused to listen to me and to obey my laws and teachings. 5 Again 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 I will destroy this temple, just as I destroyed the town of Shiloh. Then everyone on earth will use the name “Jerusalem” as a curse word.
Jeremiah on Trial
7 The priests, the prophets, and everyone else in the temple heard what I said, 8-9 and 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.
10 The 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. 11 While 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.”
12-13 Then 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.
14 You must decide what to do with me. Just do whatever you think is right. 15 But 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.
16 The 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.”
17 Then some of the leaders from other towns stepped forward. They told the crowd that 18 years ago when Hezekiah 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.”
19 Then 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.
20-24 After 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 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.
1 In the beginning of the reigne of Iehoiakim the sonne of Iosiah King of Iudah, came this worde from the Lord, saying, 2 Thus saith the Lord, Sande in the court of the Lordes House, and speake vnto all the cities of Iudah, which come to worshippe in the Lords House, all the wordes that I commaund thee to speake vnto them: keepe not a worde backe, 3 If so be they will hearken, and turne euery man from his euill way, that I may repent me of the plague, which I haue determined to bring vpon them, because of the wickednesse of their workes. 4 And thou shalt say vnto them, Thus saith the Lord, If ye will not heare me to walke in my Lawes, which I haue set before you, 5 And to heare ye wordes of my seruants the Prophets, whome I sent vnto you, both rising vp earely, and sending them, and will not obey them, 6 Then will I make this House like Shiloh, and will make this citie a curse to all the nations of the earth. 7 So the Priestes, and the Prophets, and all the people heard Ieremiah speaking these wordes in the House of the Lord. 8 Nowe when Ieremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speake vnto all the people, then the Priestes, and the prophets, and all the people tooke him, and saide, Thou shalt die the death. 9 Why hast thou prophecied in the Name of the Lord, saying, This House shall be like Shiloh, and this citie shalbe desolate without an inhabitant? and all the people were gathered against Ieremiah in the House of the Lord. 10 And when the princes of Iudah heard of these things, they came vp from the Kings house into the House of the Lord, and sate downe in the entrie of the new gate of the Lords House. 11 Then spake the Priestes, and the prophets vnto the princes, and to all the people, saying, This man is worthie to die: for he hath prophecied against this citie, as ye haue heard with your eares. 12 Then spake Ieremiah vnto all the princes, and to al the people, saying, The Lord hath sent me to prophecie against this house and against this citie all the things that ye haue heard. 13 Therefore nowe amende your wayes and your workes, and heare the voyce of the Lord your God, that the Lord may repent him of the plague, that he hath pronounced against you. 14 As for me, beholde, I am in your hands: do with me as ye thinke good and right. 15 But knowe ye for certaine, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood vpon your selues, and vpon this citie, and vpon the inhabitants thereof: for of a trueth the Lord hath sent me vnto you, to speake all these words in your eares. 16 Then saide the princes and all the people vnto the Priestes, and to the prophets, This man is not worthie to die: for he hath spoken vnto vs in the Name of the Lord our God. 17 Then rose vp certaine of the Elders of the lande, and spake to all the assemblie of the people, saying, 18 Michah the Morashite prophecied in the dayes of Hezekiah king of Iudah, and spake to al the people of Iudah, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hostes, Zion shall be plowed like a fielde, and Ierusalem shalbe an heape, and the mountaine of the House shalbe as the hie places of the forest. 19 Did Hezekiah King of Iudah, and all Iudah put him to death? did he not feare ye Lord, and prayed before the Lord, and the Lord repented him of the plague, that he had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great euill against our soules. 20 And there was also a man that prophecied in the Name of the Lord, one Vriiah the sonne of Shemaiah, of Kiriath-iarem, who prophecied against this citie, and against this lande, according to all the wordes of Ieremiah. 21 Nowe when Iehoiakim the King with all his men of power, and all the princes heard his wordes, the King sought to slay him. But when Vriiah heard it, he was afraide and fled, and went into Egypt. 22 Then Iehoiakim the King sent men into Egypt, euen Elnathan the sonne of Achbor, and certaine with him into Egypt. 23 And they fet Vriiah out of Egypt, and brought him vnto Iehoiakim the King, who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead bodie into the graues of the children of the people. 24 But the hande of Ahikam the sonne of Shaphan was with Ieremiah that they shoulde not giue him into the hande of the people to put him to death.