Jeremiah 26–52

26TH CHAPTER

Jeremiah Is Arrested

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.” 

¹⁷Then some of the leaders in the land got up and said to the entire crowd, ¹⁸“Micah from Moresheth prophesied at the time of Judah’s King Hezekiah and said to all the people of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord of Armies says: 

Zion will be plowed like a field, 

Jerusalem will become a pile of rubble, 

and the temple mountain will become a worship site 

covered with trees.’ 

¹⁹Did Judah’s King Hezekiah and all the people of Judah put Micah to death? No! Hezekiah feared the Lord and sought the Lord’s favor. So the Lord changed his plan about the disaster he intended to bring on them. But we are about to bring a bigger disaster on ourselves.” 

²⁰There was another man prophesying in the name of the Lord. His name was Uriah, son of Shemaiah, from Kiriath Jearim. He prophesied against this city and this land as Jeremiah did. ²¹When King Jehoiakim and all his personal troops and officials heard what Uriah said, the king wanted to put him to death. But Uriah heard about it and fled in fear to Egypt. ²²King Jehoiakim sent soldiers to Egypt: Elnathan (son of Achbor) and other soldiers along with him. ²³They brought Uriah from Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim. The king executed Uriah and threw his body into the burial ground for the common people. ²⁴Ahikam, son of Shaphan, supported Jeremiah. So Jeremiah was not handed over to the people to be put to death. 

27TH CHAPTER

The Yoke of Babylon Will Be on Judah

¹When Zedekiah, son of King Josiah of Judah, began to rule, the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. 

²This is what the Lord said to me: Make ⸤leather⸥ straps and a wooden yoke,^aand strap the yoke on your neck. ³Then send messages to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon, with messengers who have come to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem. ⁴Give them an order for their masters: “This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Say this to your masters, ⁵‘I used my great strength and my powerful arm to make the earth along with the people and the animals on it. I give it to anyone I please. ⁶Now I have handed all these countries over to my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I have even made wild animals serve him. ⁷All nations will serve him, his son, and his grandson until Babylon is defeated. Then many nations and great kings will make him their slave. 

⁸“ ‘Suppose nations or kingdoms won’t serve or surrender to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will punish those nations by wars, famines, and plagues, until I have put an end to them by Nebuchadnezzar’s power, declares the Lord. ⁹Don’t listen to prophets, mediums, interpreters of dreams, fortunetellers, or sorcerers who tell you that you’ll never serve the king of Babylon. ¹⁰They are prophesying lies to you. They will cause you to be taken far from your lands. I’ll scatter you, and you will die. ¹¹But suppose a nation surrenders to the king of Babylon and serves him. I will let it stay in its own land. People will farm the land and live on it,’ ” declares the Lord. 

¹²I spoke the same message to King Zedekiah of Judah, “Surrender to the king of Babylon, serve him and his people, and you will stay alive. ¹³Why should you and your people die in wars, famines, and plagues? The Lord has threatened the nations that don’t serve the king of Babylon. ¹⁴Don’t listen to the prophets who tell you that you’ll never serve the king of Babylon. They are prophesying lies to you. ¹⁵I didn’t send them, declares the Lord. They prophesy lies in my name. So I will scatter you, and you and the prophets will die.” 

¹⁶I also spoke this message to the priests and all the people. “This is what the Lord said to me: Don’t listen to the prophets who tell you that the utensils of the Lord’s temple will be brought back from Babylon soon. They are prophesying lies to you. ¹⁷Don’t listen to them. Instead, serve the king of Babylon, and live. Why should this city be turned into rubble? ¹⁸If they are prophets and the Lord is speaking to them, they should beg the Lord of Armies not to allow the utensils that are left in the Lord’s temple, in the royal palace of Judah, and in Jerusalem to be taken away to Babylon. 

^19–20“Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiakin,^bson of King Jehoiakim of Judah, into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem. But he didn’t take the pillars, the bronze pool, the stands, and the rest of the utensils that are left in this city. ²¹This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says about the utensils that are left in the Lord’s temple, in the royal palace of Judah, and in Jerusalem: ²²They will be taken to Babylon and stay there until I come for them, declares the Lord. I will take them from there and bring them back to this place.” 

28TH CHAPTER

Hananiah’s False Prophecy

¹In that same year, early in the rule of King Zedekiah of Judah, in the fifth month of his fourth year as king, the prophet Hananiah, son of Azzur, from Gibeon, spoke to me in the Lord’s temple. He said to me in front of the priests and all the people, ²“This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I will break the yoke^aof the king of Babylon. ³Within two years I will bring back all the utensils of the Lord’s temple that King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took from this place and carried off to Babylon. ⁴I will also bring back to this place Jehoiakin, son of King Jehoiakim of Judah, and all the captives of Judah who went to Babylon, declares the Lord. So I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.” 

⁵The prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah in front of the priests and all the people standing in the Lord’s temple. ⁶He said, “Amen! May the Lord do this! May the Lord make your prophecy come true and bring back the utensils of the Lord’s temple and all the captives from Babylon to this place. ⁷But now listen to this message that I am speaking to you and to all the people: ⁸Long ago, the prophets who preceded you and me prophesied wars, disasters, and plagues against many countries and great kingdoms. ⁹But the prophet who prophesied peace was recognized as a prophet that the Lord sent only if the message of the prophet came true.” 

¹⁰Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and broke it. ¹¹Hananiah said in front of all the people, “This is what the Lord says: In the same way, I will break the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon off the neck of all the nations within two years.” Then the prophet Jeremiah went on his way. 

¹²After the prophet Hananiah broke the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord spoke his word to Jeremiah. He said, ¹³“Tell Hananiah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You have broken the wooden yoke, but I^bwill replace it with an iron yoke. ¹⁴This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I will put an iron yoke on the necks of all these nations so that they will serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. They will serve him! I will even make wild animals serve him.’ ” 

¹⁵Then Jeremiah told the prophet Hananiah, “Now listen, Hananiah, the Lord hasn’t sent you. You have made these people believe a lie. ¹⁶This is what the Lord says: I’m going to remove you from the face of the earth. You will die this year because you have encouraged rebellion against the Lord.” 

¹⁷So the prophet Hananiah died in the seventh month of that year. 

29TH CHAPTER

…