Jeremiah Threatened with Death
1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord: 2 “The Lord says: Stand in the court of the house of the Lord and say everything I command you to say to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the Lord. Do not omit a word. 3 It may be they will listen, and every man turn from his evil way, that I may relent from the disaster which I intend to do to them because of their evil ways.
4 You shall tell them that this is what the Lord says: ‘If you will not listen to me, to follow my law, which I have set before you, 5 to listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have been sending to you, again and again, though you have not listened, 6 then I will make this house like Shiloh and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.’ ”
The Plot to Murder Jeremiah
7 The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. 8 When Jeremiah had 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, “You shall surely die! 9 Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘This house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be desolate, without inhabitant?’ ” All the people were crowded around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.
10 When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of the Lord, and they sat in the entry of the new gate of the house of the Lord. 11 Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the officials and to all the people, saying, “This man is worthy of death, for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.”
12 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and to all the people, saying, “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard. 13 Now therefore amend your ways and your deeds and obey the voice of the Lord your God. Then the Lord will relent from the evil that he has pronounced against you. 14 But as for me, I am in your hands. Do with me what is good and right in your eyes. 15 Only know for certain that, if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city, and on its inhabitants, for in truth the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words to you.”
Jeremiah Spared from Death
16 Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets: “This man is not worthy of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.”
17 Then certain of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to the whole the assembly of the people, saying, 18 “Micah the Morashtite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘The Lord of Hosts says:
‘Zion will be plowed like a field,
and Jerusalem will become heaps,
and the mountain of the house
like the high places of a forest.’
19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of God and the Lord relented of the disaster which he had pronounced against them? We would commit great destruction against our own souls that way!”
Uriah the Prophet
20 There was also a man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Uriah the son of Shemaiah of Kiriath Jearim, and he prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah. 21 When Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men and all the officials heard his words, the king sought to put him to death, but when Uriah heard it, he was afraid and fled and went into Egypt.
22 Then Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him, into Egypt, 23 and they fetched Uriah out of Egypt, and brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who killed him with the sword and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.
24 But the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah so that they did not give him into the hands of the people to put him to death.