Jeremiah 26

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

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

NoteJehoiakim was made king of Judah in about 609 BC by Pharaoh Neco of Egypt, who had removed Jehoiakim's brother after only three months; their father Josiah had just been killed in battle. "The beginning of the reign" is close to a technical term for a new king's first partial year on the throne. Judah at this point was the small surviving southern kingdom, ruled from Jerusalem and paying tribute to Egypt. Where LORD appears in capitals it stands in for the personal name of God, which the Hebrew text writes but Jewish tradition does not pronounce aloud.

2This is what the LORD says: Stand in the courtyard of the LORD's house and speak to all the people from the towns of Judah who come there to worship. Tell them everything I command you to say. Do not leave out a single word.

2Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the court of the LORD’s house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD’s house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word:

Note"The LORD's house" is the temple in Jerusalem. Its courtyard was the open public area outside the building itself, where ordinary worshipers gathered; only priests went inside. People came in from the towns of Judah for the festivals, so the courtyard was the one place a speaker could reach the whole country at once.

3Perhaps they will listen, and each one will turn from his evil way. Then I will hold back the disaster I am planning to bring on them because of the evil things they do.

3If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.

NoteThe Hebrew word translated "repent me of" does not mean regret over sin; it means to change course, to pull back from an announced intention. Note also that the same Hebrew word (ra'ah) is used three times over in the verse, for the people's "evil way," the "evil" God plans to do, and the "evil of their doings", one word covering both wickedness and the disaster that answers it. English needs two words where Hebrew uses one, and the echo is lost.

4Say to them: This is what the LORD says: If you will not listen to me and live by my law, which I have set in front of you,

4And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you,

5and if you will not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again, though you have not listened,

5To hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye have not hearkened;

Note"Rising up early, and sending them" is a Hebrew idiom, common in Jeremiah, meaning to do something persistently and from the start, sending message after message. It says nothing about the hour of the morning.

6then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a name that all the nations of the earth use when they curse.

6Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.

NoteShiloh, about twenty miles north of Jerusalem, was the sanctuary where the tent-shrine and the ark stood for generations before the temple was built. It was destroyed, apparently by the Philistines around 1050 BC, and never recovered. For Jeremiah's hearers it was the standing example of a holy place that God had let fall. To say the temple would become like Shiloh was the most inflammatory thing he could have said.

7The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah say these words in the house of the LORD.

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

NoteThese "prophets" are not Jeremiah's colleagues but his rivals: professional prophets attached to the temple staff alongside the priests, who spoke for a living and whose message was that the temple guaranteed the city's safety.

8When Jeremiah had finished saying everything the LORD commanded him to say to all the people, the priests, the prophets, and all the people grabbed him and said, "You are certainly going to die!

8Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die.

Note"Thou shalt surely die" is not a prediction but a formal verdict, the standard Hebrew wording of a death sentence.

9Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD that this house will become like Shiloh and this city will be an empty ruin with no one living in it?" And all the people crowded around Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.

9Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the LORD, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.

NoteThe charge is not that Jeremiah spoke, but that he claimed the words were God's. Israelite law made speaking falsely in the LORD's name a capital offense (Deuteronomy 18:20), which is what gives the crowd a legal footing for demanding his death.

10When the officials of Judah heard what was happening, they came up from the king's palace to the house of the LORD and sat down at the entrance of the New Gate of the LORD's house.

10When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king’s house unto the house of the LORD, and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the LORD’s house.

Note"Princes" in 1611 English means officials or nobles of the royal administration, not the king's sons. They come from the palace to the temple and "sit down" in a gateway, the gate of a city or sanctuary was where cases were heard, so sitting there means convening as a court. What follows in verses 11–16 is a trial: the priests and prophets act as prosecutors, Jeremiah speaks in his own defense, and the officials and the assembled people give the verdict.

11Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, "This man deserves to die, because he has prophesied against this city. You heard it with your own ears."

11Then spake the priests and the prophets unto 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.

12Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people, "The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city every word you have heard.

12Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and to all the people, saying, The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that ye have heard.

13So now, correct your ways and your actions, and obey the voice of the LORD your God. Then the LORD will hold back the disaster he has announced against you.

13Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.

14As for me, I am in your hands. Do to me whatever seems good and right to you.

14As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you.

Note"Meet" in 1611 English means fitting or proper. Jeremiah is not pleading; he is formally conceding that the court has power over his life.

15But know this for certain: if you put me to death, you will bring the guilt of innocent blood on yourselves, on this city, and on the people who live here. The LORD truly sent me to speak all these words for you to hear."

15But know ye for certain, that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, and upon the inhabitants thereof: for of a truth the LORD hath sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears.

NoteBlood shed unjustly was thought of as leaving a stain that clung to the killers and to the whole community and the ground itself until it was answered for. Jeremiah is warning the court that executing him would not remove their problem but add a debt the city would have to pay.

16Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, "This man does not deserve to die, because he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God."

16Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets; This man is not worthy to die: for he hath spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.

17Then some of the elders of the land stood up and spoke to the whole assembly of the people:

17Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to all the assembly of the people, saying,

NoteThe "elders of the land" were the senior heads of landholding families, men with recognized standing to speak in a legal assembly. They are a third party here, separate from both the temple officials and the royal court.

18"Micah from Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah. He told all the people of Judah, 'This is what the LORD of Hosts says: Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become piles of rubble, and the hill where the temple stands will become a wooded ridge.'

18Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.

NoteMicah of Moresheth is the prophet whose book stands in the Bible; the words quoted are Micah 3:12. He spoke in the reign of Hezekiah, roughly a hundred years before this trial, so the elders are citing a precedent from living memory of the records. "Zion" is the hill Jerusalem stood on, used as a name for the city and especially for the temple mount. "The LORD of hosts" means the LORD commanding armies, heavenly ones, and Israel's. "The high places of a forest" is 1611 English for a bare wooded height: Micah's picture is of the temple hill reduced to scrub, farmland and rubble.

19Did Hezekiah king of Judah, or anyone else in Judah, put him to death? No. Hezekiah feared the LORD and begged him for favor, and the LORD held back the disaster he had announced against them. But we are about to bring great harm on ourselves."

19Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? did he not fear the LORD, and besought the LORD, and the LORD repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls.

Note"Besought the LORD" translates a Hebrew phrase that literally means to soften someone's face, to appeal for favor from a person with power over you. "Procure great evil against our souls" is 1611 English for bringing serious harm on ourselves; "souls" here means lives or selves, not an immaterial part of a person. The elders' argument is legal and practical: the king a century ago took a prophet's threat seriously instead of killing him, and the threat was withdrawn.

20There was another man who prophesied in the name of the LORD: Urijah son of Shemaiah, from Kirjath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land the same things Jeremiah said.

20And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjathjearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah:

NoteUrijah (Uriah) is otherwise unknown. Kirjath-jearim was a town about nine miles west of Jerusalem. This second case is told against the first: the elders' precedent showed a prophet spared, and this one shows what the present king does instead.

21When King Jehoiakim and all his fighting men and officials heard his words, the king wanted to put him to death. But when Urijah heard about it, he was afraid and ran away to Egypt.

21And when Jehoiakim the king, with 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;

NoteEgypt was not a random refuge. At this date Judah was an Egyptian dependency and Jehoiakim owed his throne to Pharaoh Neco, so a fugitive who crossed the border was still within reach of a king Egypt had installed, which is why the extradition in the next verse succeeds.

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

22And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into Egypt.

NoteElnathan son of Achbor was a senior figure at Jehoiakim's court; he appears again in Jeremiah 36 among the officials who urge the king not to burn Jeremiah's scroll. Sending a man of that rank shows how seriously the king pursued Urijah.

23They brought Urijah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him killed with a sword and had his body thrown into the burial ground of the common people.

23And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.

NoteNot a family tomb but a public burial ground for those without one. Being denied burial with one's ancestors was itself part of the punishment, a deliberate disgrace extended past death.

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

24Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

Note"The hand of X was with Y" is a Hebrew idiom for protection and backing, not physical contact. Ahikam belonged to the most powerful bureaucratic family in Judah: his father Shaphan was Josiah's secretary of state, and his son Gedaliah was later appointed governor by the Babylonians. Jeremiah survives this chapter because of court politics, not because the verdict settled anything.