Jeremiah 26–29

26^*aIn the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word from the Lord, saying, ²Thus saith the Lord; ^bStand 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, ^call the words that I command thee to speak unto them; ^ddiminish not a word: ^3eIf so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that ^fI may repent me ^eof the evil, which I purpose to do unto them ^gbecause of the evil of their doings. ⁴And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord; ^hIf ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you, ⁵ⁱTo hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, ⁱwhom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, ⁱbut ye have not hearkened; ⁶Then will I make this house ^klike Shiloh, and will make this city ^la curse ^llto all the nations of the earth.

⁷So ^mthe priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. 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 ^mthe priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die. ⁹Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, This house shall be ^klike Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate ⁿwithout an inhabitant? And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. 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 ^othe new gate of the Lord’s house. ¹¹Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, ^†This man is worthy to die; ^pfor he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears. 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. ¹³Therefore now ^qamend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God; and ^fthe Lord will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you. ¹⁴As for me, behold, ^rI am in your hand: ^rdo with me ^†as seemeth good and meet unto you. 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.

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. ^17sThen rose up certain of ^tthe elders of the land, and spake to all the assembly of the people, saying, ^18u*Micah 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;

^vZion shall be plowed like a field,

And Jerusalem shall become heaps,

And the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.

¹⁹Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? ^wdid he not fear the Lord, and besought ^†the Lord, and ^fwxthe Lord repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? ^yThus might we procure great evil against our souls. ²⁰And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the Lord, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of ^zKirjath-jearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah: ²¹And ^awhen 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; ²²And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely, ^*bElnathan the son of ^cAchbor, and certain men with him into Egypt. ²³And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king; ^dwho slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into ^ethe graves of the ^†common people. ²⁴Nevertheless the hand of ^fAhikam the son of ^gShaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.

27^aIn the beginning of the reign of ^bJehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, ²Thus ^||saith the Lord to me; ^cMake thee bonds and ^dyokes, and put them upon thy neck, ³And send them to the king of ^eEdom, and to the king of ^eMoab, and to the king of the ^eAmmonites, and to the king of ^eTyrus, and to the king of ^eZidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem ^bunto Zedekiah king of Judah; ⁴And command them ^||to say unto their masters, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say unto your masters; ^5fI have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and ^gby my outstretched arm, and ^hhave given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. ⁶And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, ⁱmy servant; and ^kthe beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. ^7lAnd all nations shall serve him, and ^mhis son, and ⁿhis son’s son, ^lountil the very time of his land come: and then ^pmany nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him. ⁸And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and ^qthat will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, ^rwith the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. ^9vTherefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to ^syour diviners, nor to your ^†dreamers, nor to your ^tenchanters, nor to your ^usorcerers, ^vwhich speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: ^10vwFor they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish. ¹¹But ^qthe nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the Lord; and they shall till it, and dwell therein.

¹²I spake also ^*xto Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, ^qBring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and ^yserve him and his people, and live. ^13zWhy will ye die, thou and thy people, ^raby the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, ^bas the Lord hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? ^14cTherefore hearken not unto the words of the prophets that speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: ^dfor they prophesy a lie unto you. ^15eFor I have not sent them, saith the Lord, yet they prophesy ^†a lie in my name; ^fthat I might drive you out, and that ye might perish, ye, and the prophets that prophesy unto you. ¹⁶Also I spake to the priests and to all this people, saying, Thus saith the Lord; ^vHearken not to the words of your prophets that prophesy unto you, saying, Behold, ^gthe vessels of the Lord’s house shall now shortly be brought again from Babylon: ^vfor they prophesy a lie unto you. ¹⁷Hearken not unto them; ^yserve the king of Babylon, and live: wherefore should this city ^hbe laid waste? ¹⁸But if they be prophets, and if the word of the Lord be with them, let them now ⁱmake intercession to the Lord of hosts, that ^kthe vessels which are left in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah, and at Jerusalem, go not to Babylon. ¹⁹For thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning ^lthe pillars, and concerning ^lthe sea, and concerning ^lthe bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city, ²⁰Which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not, ^mwhen he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; ²¹Yea, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem; ²²ⁿThey shall be carried to Babylon, and ^othere shall they be until the day that ^pI visit them, saith the Lord; then ^qwill I bring them up, and ^pqrestore them to this place.

28^*And it came to pass ^athe same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, and in the fifth month, that ^bHananiah the son of ^cAzur the prophet, which was of ^dGibeon, spake unto me in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the priests and of all the people, saying, ²Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken ^othe yoke of the king of Babylon. ^3fWithin ^†two full years will I bring again into this place ^fall the vessels of the Lord’s house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place, and carried them to Babylon: ⁴And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, with all the ^†captives of Judah, that went into Babylon, saith the Lord: for ^eI will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. ⁵Then the prophet Jeremiah said unto the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the people that stood in the house of the Lord, ⁶Even the prophet Jeremiah said, ^gAmen: the Lord do so: the Lord perform thy words which thou hast prophesied, to bring again the vessels of the Lord’s house, and all that is carried away captive, from Babylon into this place. ⁷Nevertheless hear thou now this word that I speak in thine ears, and in the ears of all the people; ⁸The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied both against many countries, and against great kingdoms, of war, and of evil, and of pestilence. ^9hThe prophet which prophesieth ⁱof peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the Lord hath truly sent him. ¹⁰Then Hananiah the prophet took the ^kyoke from off…