Jeremiah 26

1 In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, came this word from Jehovah, saying: —

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

2 Thus saith Jehovah: Stand in the court of the house of Jehovah, and speak to those who come from all the cities of Judah to worship in the house of Jehovah all the words which I have commanded thee to speak to them; abate not 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 If peradventure they will hearken and turn every one from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil which I purpose to do to them because of their evil 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 to them, Thus saith Jehovah: If ye will not hearken to 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 to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent to you, rising early and sending, and ye have not hearkened,

6 then will I make this house like Shiloh, and this city will I make a curse to 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 Jehovah.

[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 when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that Jehovah had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, and said, 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 dost thou prophesy in the name of Jehovah, and say, This house shall be as Shiloh, and this city shall be made desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were assembled together against Jeremiah in the house of Jehovah.

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 princes of Judah heard these things, they went up from the king's house to the house of Jehovah, and sat in the entrance of the new gate of the house of Jehovah.

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 spake the priests and the prophets to the princes and to all the people, saying: This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your 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 spake Jeremiah to all the princes and to all the people, saying: Jehovah hath sent me to prophesy against this house, and against this city, all the words which 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 ye your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of Jehovah, your God, and Jehovah will repent of the evil which he hath 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 And as for me, behold, I am in your hands; do to me as it seemeth good and right 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 shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and its inhabitants; for of a truth Jehovah hath sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.

[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 to the priests and the prophets: This man is not worthy to die, for he hath spoken to us in the name of Jehovah, 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 Certain elders of the land also rose up, and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying:

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

18 Micah, the Morasthite, prophesied in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Zion shall be ploughed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps of stones, and the mountain of the house [[of Jehovah]] as the heights of a forest.

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, and all Judah, put him to death? Did he not fear Jehovah, and beseech Jehovah, so that Jehovah repented of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Shall we then bring so great an evil upon 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 There was also another man that prophesied in the name of Jehovah, Urijah, the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath-jearim, who prophesied against this city and this land, according to 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 Jehoiakim the king, and all his mighty men, and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But when Urijah heard it, he was afraid, and fled and went into 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 Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into Egypt,

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

23 and they brought Urijah out of Egypt, and carried him to King Jehoiakim, who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into 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 Nevertheless, the hand of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, was with Jeremiah, that he should not be delivered into the hand of 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.