Jeremiah 26

1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoyakim the son of Josiah the king of Judah came this word from the Lord, saying,

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

2 Thus hath said the Lord, Place thyself in the court of the house of the Lord, and speak against all of the cities of Judah, who come to prostrate themselves in the house of the Lord, all the words that I have commanded thee to speak unto them: omit not a word [thereof];

“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 it be that they will hearken, and return every man from his evil way, that I may bethink me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them, because of the wrongfulness of their doings.

[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 thou shalt say unto them, Thus hath said the Lord, if ye will not hearken unto me, to 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 To hearken unto the words of my servants the prophets, whom I send unto you, yea, making them rise up early, and sending them, while ye have not hearkened:

6 Then will I render this house like Shiloh, and this city will I render a curse unto 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 And the priests and the 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 it came to pass, when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded [him] to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people seized on him, saying, Thou shalt 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 Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, Like Shiloh shall this house be, and this city shall be ruined, [left] without an inhabitant? And all the people assembled themselves 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 But when the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house unto the house of the Lord, and sat down at the entrance of the new gate of the Lord's house.

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 said the priests and the prophets unto the princes and unto all the people, as followeth, This man deserveth the punishment of death; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye 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 Then said Jeremiah unto all the princes and unto all the people, as followeth, The Lord hath sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that ye 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 But now amend your ways and your doings, and hearken to the voice of the Lord your God: and the Lord will bethink him of the evil that he hath spoken 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, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and just in your eyes.

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 ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye will surely place [the guilt of] innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon its inhabitants; for in truth hath the Lord sent me unto you to speak in your ears all these words.

[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 said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets, This man is not deserving the punishment of death; for in the name of the Lord our God hath he spoken unto us.

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 And then rose up certain men of the elders of the land, and said to all the assembly of the people, as followeth,

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

18 Michah the Morashthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah the king of Judah. and said to all the people of Judah, as followeth, Thus hath said the Lord of hosts, Zion shall be ploughed up like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the house, woody high-places.

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 the king of Judah and all Judah attempt to put him to death? behold, he did fear the Lord, and besought the Lord, and the Lord bethought him of the evil which he had spoken against them. And shall we bring a great wickedness on our souls?

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 And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the Lord, Uriyah the son of Shema'yahu of Kiryath-ye'arim, who prophesied against this city and against this land in accordance with all the words of Jeremiah;

[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 And when king Jehoyakim, with all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Uriyahu heard it, he was afraid, and fled, and arrived in 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 But king Jehoyakim sent some men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of 'Achbor, and some men with him into Egypt:

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

23 And they fetched Uriyahu out of Egypt, and brought him unto king Jehoyakim, who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body upon the graves 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 But the hand of Achikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so as not to give him up into the hand of the people to put him to death.

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