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Jeremiah arrested and sentenced to death

26 Early in the rule of Judah’s King Jehoiakim, Josiah’s son, this word came from the Lord: The Lord proclaims: Stand in the temple courtyard and speak to all the people of the towns of Judah who have come to the temple to worship. Tell them everything I command you; leave nothing out. Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from their evil ways. If they do, I will relent and not carry out the harm I have in mind for them because of the wrong they have done. So tell them, The Lord proclaims: If you don’t listen to me or follow the Instruction I have set before you— if you don’t listen to the words of the prophets that I have sent to you time and again, though you haven’t listened, then I will make this temple a ruin like Shiloh, and this city I will make a curse before all nations on earth.

The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah declare these words in the Lord’s temple. And when Jeremiah finished saying everything the Lord told him to say, the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him and said, “You must die! Why do you prophesy in the Lord’s name that ‘this temple will become a ruin like Shiloh, and this city will be destroyed and left without inhabitant’?” Then all the people joined ranks against Jeremiah in the Lord’s temple.

10 When the officials of Judah heard these things, they went up from the royal palace to the Lord’s temple and took their places at the entrance of the New Gate of the Lord’s temple. 11 The priests and the prophets said to the officials and all the people: “This man deserves to die for prophesying against this city as you have all heard firsthand.”

12 Jeremiah said to all the officials and to all the people, “The Lord sent me to prophesy to this temple and this city everything you have heard. 13 So now transform your ways and actions. Obey the Lord your God, and the Lord may relent and not carry out the harm that he’s pronounced against you. 14 But me? I’m in your hands. Do whatever you would like to me. 15 Only know for certain that if you sentence me to death, you and the people of this city will be guilty of killing an innocent man. The Lord has in fact sent me to speak everything I have said to you.”

16 Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “This man doesn’t deserve to die, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.”

17 A few of the community elders got up and addressed the whole crowd: 18 “Micah of Moresheth, who prophesied during the rule of Judah’s Hezekiah, said to all the people of Judah, ‘The Lord of heavenly forces proclaims:

Zion will be plowed down like a field,
Jerusalem will become piles of rubble,
and the temple mount will become an overgrown mound.’

19 “Did King Hezekiah or anyone else in Judah execute him? Didn’t he instead fear the Lord and plead for his mercy? Then the Lord relented of the harm that he had pronounced against them. We are about to commit a huge mistake that will cost us our lives.”

20 There was another man who prophesied in the Lord’s name: Uriah, Shemaiah’s son from Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied the same things that Jeremiah did about this city and against this land. 21 When King Jehoiakim and all his warriors and officials heard his words, the king sought to kill him. Uriah heard of this and fled in fear to Egypt. 22 But King Jehoiakim dispatched Elnathan, Achbor’s son, and others to Egypt. 23 They brought Uriah back from Egypt to the king who had him killed, and his body was thrown into the common burial ground.

24 But Ahikam, Shaphan’s son, protected Jeremiah and wouldn’t let the people execute him.

Submit to the king of Babylon and live

27 Early in the rule of Judah’s King Zedekiah,[a] Josiah’s son, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: This is what the Lord said to me: Make a yoke of straps and bars and wear it on your neck. Then send word[b] to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon through their representatives who have come to Jerusalem to Judah’s King Zedekiah. Tell them to say to their masters: The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: Say this to your masters:

By my great power and outstretched arm, I have made the earth and the people and animals that are on it. I can give it to anyone I please. Now I hand over all these countries to my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I even give him the wild animals as subjects. All nations will serve him, his son and grandson, until the time for his land arrives; then many nations and great kings will conquer him.

As for the nation or country that won’t serve Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar and won’t put its neck under his yoke, I will punish it with sword, famine, and disease until I have destroyed it by his hand, declares the Lord. As for you, don’t listen to your prophets, diviners, dreamers,[c] mediums, or your sorcerers who say to you, “Don’t serve the king of Babylon.” 10 They are lying to you, and their lies will lead to banishment from your land. I will drive you out, and you will perish. 11 But any nation that puts its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, I will let stay in its land to till it and live on it, declares the Lord.

12 I delivered the same message to Judah’s King Zedekiah: If you want to live, put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people. 13 Why should you and your people die by sword, famine, and disease, as the Lord pronounced against any nation that won’t serve the king of Babylon? 14 Pay no attention to the words of the prophets who encourage you not to serve the king of Babylon, for they are lying to you. 15 I haven’t sent these prophets, declares the Lord; they are prophesying falsely in my name. If you listen to them, I will drive you out, and you will perish, both you and your prophets!

16 Then I spoke to the priests and all this people: This is what the Lord says: Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you, “In a short while, the temple equipment will be brought back from Babylon.” They are prophesying a lie to you. 17 Don’t listen to them; serve the king of Babylon and live. Otherwise, this city will be reduced to ruin. 18 If they are really prophets and have the Lord’s word, let them intercede with the Lord of heavenly forces not to let the equipment left in the Lord’s temple and in the royal palace of Judah and Jerusalem be carted off to Babylon.

19 This is what the Lord of heavenly forces proclaims about the pillars, the Sea, the stands, and the rest of the equipment left in this city, 20 which Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar didn’t plunder when he deported Jeconiah the son of Judah’s King Jehoiakim from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the officials of Judah and Jerusalem. 21 Yes, this is what the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims about the equipment that is left in the Lord’s temple and in the royal palace in Judah, and in Jerusalem: 22 They will be carted off to Babylon where they will remain until the day I come looking for them, declares the Lord; then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.

Prophet against prophet

28 That same year, early in the rule of Judah’s King Zedekiah, in the fifth month of his fourth year, the prophet Hananiah, Azzur’s son from Gibeon, spoke to me in the Lord’s temple before the priests and all the people. He said: “The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. In two years I will restore to this place all of the temple equipment that Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar carted off to Babylon. I will also restore to this place Judah’s King Jeconiah, Jehoiakim’s son, along with all the exiles from Judah who were deported to Babylon, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon, declares the Lord.”

Then the prophet Jeremiah responded to Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the Lord’s temple. The prophet Jeremiah said: “Indeed. May the Lord do just as you have said! May the Lord fulfill the words that you have prophesied and bring back from Babylon the equipment of the Lord’s temple and all the exiles to this place. However, listen closely to what I have to say to you and all the people: The prophets who came before you and me long ago prophesied war, disaster, and disease against many lands and great kingdoms. So the prophet who prophesies peace is recognized as one who is actually sent by the Lord only when that prophet’s message is fulfilled.”

10 Then the prophet Hananiah took hold of the yoke that was on the prophet Jeremiah’s neck and broke it. 11 He said before all the people, “This is what the Lord says: Just as this yoke has been broken, I will break the yoke of Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar from the neck of all the nations within two years.” Then the prophet Jeremiah walked away.

12 Sometime after Hananiah had broken the yoke that was on Jeremiah’s neck, the Lord told him: 13 Go, say to Hananiah, The Lord proclaims: You have broken a wooden yoke,[d] but I[e] will replace it with an iron one. 14 The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: I will put iron yokes on the necks of all these nations, and they will serve Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar; even the wild animals will be subject to him!

15 Then the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah: “Listen, Hananiah! The Lord hasn’t sent you. All you are doing is persuading these people to believe a lie. 16 Therefore, the Lord proclaims: I’m going to send you somewhere—right off the face of the earth! Before the year ends, you will die since you have incited rebellion against the Lord.” 17 The prophet Hananiah died in the seventh month[f] of that year.

Disturbing hope: Settle down in Babylon

29 The prophet Jeremiah sent a letter from Jerusalem to the few surviving elders among the exiles, to the priests and the prophets, and to all the people Nebuchadnezzar had taken to Babylon from Jerusalem. The letter was sent after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the court officials, the government leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen and smiths had left Jerusalem. It was delivered to Babylon by Elasah, Shaphan’s son, and Gemariah, Hilkiah’s son—two men dispatched to Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar by King Zedekiah.

The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims to all the exiles I have carried off from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and settle down; cultivate gardens and eat what they produce. Get married and have children; then help your sons find wives and your daughters find husbands in order that they too may have children. Increase in number there so that you don’t dwindle away. Promote the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because your future depends on its welfare.

The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: Don’t let the prophets and diviners in your midst mislead you. Don’t pay attention to your dreams. They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I didn’t send them, declares the Lord.

10 The Lord proclaims: When Babylon’s seventy years are up, I will come and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. 11 I know the plans I have in mind for you, declares the Lord; they are plans for peace, not disaster, to give you a future filled with hope. 12 When you call me and come and pray to me, I will listen to you. 13 When you search for me, yes, search for me with all your heart, you will find me. 14 I will be present for you, declares the Lord, and I will end your captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have scattered you, and I will bring you home after your long exile,[g] declares the Lord.

15 Yet you say, The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon:

16 This is what the Lord proclaims concerning the king sitting on David’s throne and all the people who live in this city, that is, those among you who didn’t go into exile: 17 The Lord of heavenly forces proclaims: I’m going to send the sword, famine, and disease against them. I will make them like rotten figs that are too spoiled to eat. 18 I will pursue them with the sword, famine, and disease; and I will make them an object of horror to all nations on earth and an object of cursing, scorn, shock, and disgrace among all the countries where I have scattered them, 19 because they wouldn’t listen to my words, declares the Lord, which I sent them time and again through my servants the prophets. They[h] wouldn’t listen, declares the Lord.

20 But now, all you exiles I deported from Jerusalem to Babylon, listen to the Lord’s word. 21 This is what the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims concerning Ahab, Kolaiah’s son, and Zedekiah, Maaseiah’s son, who are prophesying lies to you in my name: I will hand them over to Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar, and he will slay them before your very eyes. 22 Because of them, all the Judean exiles in Babylon will use this curse: “The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, who were burned alive by the king of Babylon.” 23 They committed a horrible scandal in Israel—adultery with their neighbors’ wives and deceit spoken in my name, with which I had nothing to do. Yet I’m still aware of it and am witness to it, declares the Lord.

24 Tell Shemaiah the Nehelamite, 25 This is what the Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: [i] You sent letters on your own accord to all the people in Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah, Maaseiah’s son, and to the rest of the priests. 26 You said to Zephaniah:[j] The Lord has appointed you priest in charge of the Lord’s temple instead of Jehoiada. You are responsible for putting every madman who prophesies into stocks and neck irons. 27 So why haven’t you threatened Jeremiah of Anathoth, who pretends to be a prophet among you? 28 He has sent a letter telling those of us in Babylon: “You are going to be there a long time, so build houses and settle down, plant gardens and eat what they produce.”

29 The priest Zephaniah read this letter to the prophet Jeremiah. 30 Then the Lord’s word came to Jeremiah: 31 Send word to all the exiles: The Lord proclaims concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah prophesied to you when I didn’t send him, and because he convinced you to believe a lie, 32 I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants, declares the Lord. Not one member of this people will be around to see the good that I have in store for my people, declares the Lord, for he incited rebellion against me.

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 27:1 Heb manuscripts, Syr; MT Jehoiakim
  2. Jeremiah 27:3 Or them (the yokes)
  3. Jeremiah 27:9 Or dreams
  4. Jeremiah 28:13 Or yokes
  5. Jeremiah 28:13 Heb uncertain
  6. Jeremiah 28:17 September–October, Tishrei
  7. Jeremiah 29:14 Or I will restore you to the place from which I exiled you.
  8. Jeremiah 29:19 Syr; MT you
  9. Jeremiah 29:25 Or because you sent
  10. Jeremiah 29:26 Heb lacks You said to Zephaniah.

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