Jeremiah Is Threatened for His Message

At the beginning of King Jehoiakim’s reign, Yahweh gave Jeremiah a message. He was to stand in the court of Yahweh’s house and speak to the people coming from the cities of Judah to worship there. He was not to leave out a word. The warning was serious, but it also offered hope: if the people turned from evil, Yahweh would hold back the disaster he had announced.

Jeremiah said that if the people would not listen to Yahweh’s law or to the prophets Yahweh had sent, then this house would become like Shiloh, and the city would become a curse among the nations. The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard him. When he finished, they seized him and cried that he should die.

The princes of Judah came from the king’s house to Yahweh’s house and sat at the entry of the new gate. The priests and prophets said Jeremiah deserved death. Jeremiah answered that Yahweh had sent him to speak these words. He urged the people to change their ways and obey Yahweh. He also warned that if they killed him, they would bring innocent blood on themselves and on the city.

Then the princes and all the people said Jeremiah was not worthy of death, because he had spoken in the name of Yahweh. Some of the elders reminded the assembly about Micah in the days of King Hezekiah. Micah had spoken a similar warning, yet Hezekiah did not put him to death. He feared Yahweh, sought his favour, and Yahweh relented from the disaster announced.

The chapter also reports another prophet, Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath Jearim, who spoke against the city and the land with words like Jeremiah’s. King Jehoiakim sought to kill him. Uriah fled to Egypt, but the king sent Elnathan son of Achbor and other men to bring him back, and Uriah was killed. Jeremiah, however, was protected by Ahikam son of Shaphan and was not handed over to the people.