¹The Lord spoke his word when Judah’s King Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, began to rule. He said, ²“This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple, and speak to all the people who come from the cities of Judah to worship in the Lord’s temple. Tell them everything that I command you to tell them. Don’t leave out a single word. ³Maybe they’ll listen, and they’ll turn from their evil ways. Then I’ll change my plan about the disaster I intend to bring on them because of the evil they have done.”

⁴The Lord added, “Also say to them, ‘This is what the Lord says: Suppose you don’t listen to me and don’t follow my teachings that I set in front of you. ⁵Suppose you don’t listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent to you again and again, even though you didn’t listen. ⁶Then I will do to this temple what I did to Shiloh. I will turn this city into something that will be cursed by all the nations on earth.’ ”

⁷The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these things in the Lord’s temple. ⁸But as soon as Jeremiah finished saying everything that the Lord had commanded him to say, the priests, the prophets, and all the people grabbed him and said, “You must die! ⁹Why do you prophesy in the Lord’s name that this temple will be like Shiloh and this city will become a pile of rubble with no one living here?” Then all the people crowded around Jeremiah in the Lord’s temple.

¹⁰When the officials of Judah heard about these things, they went from the king’s palace to the Lord’s temple. They sat at the entrance of New Gate to the Lord’s ⸤temple⸥. ¹¹Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and all the people, “This man is condemned to die because he prophesied against this city as you yourselves have heard.”

¹²Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people, “The Lord sent me to prophesy everything that you have heard me say against this temple and against this city. ¹³Now, change your ways and what you are doing, and listen to the Lord your God. Then the Lord will change his plan about the disaster that he intends to bring on you.

¹⁴“My life is in your hands. Do with me whatever you think is good and right. ¹⁵But know for certain that if you put me to death, you, this city, and the people living in it will be guilty of killing an innocent person. The Lord has certainly sent me to speak all these things to you.”

¹⁶Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and prophets, “This man should not be condemned to die. He has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.”

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