Jeremiah 26

1 At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the LORD:

Soon after Jehoiakim became the king of Judah, Yahweh gave [me] this message:

2 “This is what the LORD says: Stand in the courtyard of the house of the LORD and speak all the words I have commanded you to speak to all the cities of Judah who come to worship there. Do not omit a word.

“This is what [I], Yahweh, am telling you: Stand in the courtyard [in front] of my temple, and speak to all [the people from] the various towns in Judah who come there to worship me. Tell them everything that I tell you; do not omit anything.

3 Perhaps they will listen and turn—each from his evil way of life—so that I may relent of the disaster I am planning to bring upon them because of the evil of their deeds.

[If you do tell them everything], perhaps they will pay attention, and each one of them will turn away from his evil behavior. Then I will change my mind, and not cause them to experience the disaster that I was planning to cause them to experience because of the evil things that they have done.

4 And you are to tell them that this is what the LORD says: ‘If you do not listen to Me and walk in My law, which I have set before you,

Say to them, ‘This is what Yahweh says: I sent to you the prophets who serve me, to tell you what you should do. I sent them to you many times, but you have not paid attention to what they said. If you will not pay attention to what I say and do not obey the message that I have given to you, and if you do not pay attention to what the prophets say,

5 and if you do not listen to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I have sent you again and again even though you did not listen,

6 then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth.’”

I will destroy this temple like I destroyed Shiloh, [the place where the Sacred Tent was put]. And I will cause Jerusalem to be a place whose name [people in] every nation on the earth will say when they curse someone.’”

7 Now the priests and prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD,

[When I did what Yahweh told me to do, ] the priests, the [false] prophets, and many [other] people listened to me as I told them that message outside the temple.

8 and as soon as he had finished telling all the people everything the LORD had commanded him to say, the priests and prophets and all the people seized him, shouting, “You must surely die!

But as soon as I finished telling them everything that Yahweh had commanded me to say, they all seized me and said, “You must be executed!

9 How dare you prophesy in the name of the LORD that this house will become like Shiloh and this city will be desolate and deserted!” And all the people assembled against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.

Why [RHQ] are you prophesying that this temple will be [destroyed] like Shiloh [was destroyed]? Why are you saying that this city will be destroyed, and that no one will live here [any more]? (OR, You should not be prophesying) [RHQ]” All the people surrounded me [as I stood] in [front of] the temple.

10 When the officials of Judah heard these things, they went up from the king’s palace to the house of the LORD and sat there at the entrance of the New Gate.

When the officials of Judah heard about all this [that was happening], they rushed from the palace and sat down at the gate of the temple named The New Gate, [to judge my case].

11 Then the priests and prophets said to the officials and all the people, “This man is worthy of death, for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears!”

The priests and the [false] told the officials and the other people [who were there], “This man should be executed, because he has prophesied that this city [will be destroyed], and you yourselves [MTY] have heard him say that!”

12 But Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people, “The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.

Then I replied to the officials and the other people, saying, “Yahweh sent me to prophesy all the things that you heard me say about [what will happen to] this temple and this city.

13 So now, correct your ways and deeds, and obey the voice of the LORD your God, so that He might relent of the disaster He has pronounced against you.

But if you change your behavior and stop sinning, and [start to] obey Yahweh our God, he will change his mind, and not cause you to experience the disasters that he said that he would send.

14 As for me, here I am in your hands; do to me what you think is good and right.

As for me, I am not able to free myself from your grasp. [So you can] do to me whatever you want to do.

15 But know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves, upon this city, and upon its residents; for truly the LORD has sent me to speak all these words in your hearing.”

[But you need to] know that if you kill me, you will be killing a man [SYN] who (is innocent/has not done anything wrong). And you and everyone else in this city will be guilty, because the truth is that it was Yahweh who sent me to speak every word that you have heard me say.”

16 Then the officials and all the people told the priests and prophets, “This man is not worthy of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God!”

Then the officials and the other people said to the priests and the [false] prophets, “This man does not deserve to be executed, because he has spoken to us the message [MTY] that Yahweh gave him!”

17 Some of the elders of the land stood up and said to the whole assembly of the people,

Then some of the elders stood up and spoke to all the people who were gathered [there].

18 “Micah the Moreshite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and told all the people of Judah that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.’

They said, “([Remember/Think about) what] Micah, [the prophet] from Moresheth [town], prophesied during the years that Hezekiah was the King of Judah. He told the people of Judah this: ‘This is what the Commander of the armies of angels says: [Some day] Zion [Hill] will be plowed like fields [are plowed]; Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins. There will be a large clump/group of trees on top of the hill where the temple is now.’

19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah or anyone else in Judah put him to death? Did Hezekiah not fear the LORD and seek His favor, and did not the LORD relent of the disaster He had pronounced against them? But we are about to bring great harm on ourselves!”

But did [RHQ] King Hezekiah or anyone else in Judah kill Micah [for saying that]? No! Instead, Hezekiah revered Yahweh, and pleaded that he would (act mercifully toward/not destroy) them. So, Yahweh changed his mind about causing them to experience the terrible disaster that he said he would send. And now [if we kill Jeremiah], we are going to cause ourselves to experience a terrible disaster!”

20 Now there was another man prophesying in the name of the LORD, Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land the same things that Jeremiah did.

[At that time, ] the son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-Jearim [city] was also prophesying/proclaiming messages [MTY] from Yahweh. He was predicting that the city and the rest of the land would experience the same disasters that I was predicting.

21 King Jehoiakim and all his mighty men and officials heard his words, and the king sought to put him to death. But when Uriah found out about it, he fled in fear and went to Egypt.

When King Jehoiakim and his army officers and officials heard what Uriah was saying, the king sent someone to kill Uriah. But Uriah heard about it, and became [very] afraid, and he (escaped/ran away) to Egypt.

22 Then King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt: Elnathan son of Achbor along with some other men.

Then King Jehoiakim sent Elnathan the son of Acbor along with several other men to Egypt.

23 They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him put to the sword and his body thrown into the burial place of the common people.

They captured Uriah and took him [back to Jerusalem] to King Jehoiakim. The king then [had a soldier] kill Uriah with a sword. Then they buried his corpse in a place where poor people are buried.

24 Nevertheless, Ahikam son of Shaphan supported Jeremiah, so he was not handed over to the people to be put to death.

However, Ahikam the son of Shaphan defended me, and persuaded the officials not to allow [MTY] the mob to murder me.