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¹ IN the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,² Thus says the LORD: Stand in the court of the LORDS house and speak to all the cities of Judah which come to worship in the house of the LORD all the words that I commanded you to speak to them; omit not a word:³ Perhaps they will listen and turn every man from his evil way, so that I may cease from the harm which I purpose to do to them because of their evil doings.⁴ And you shall say to them, Thus says the LORD: If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law which I have set before you⁵ And to hearken to the words of my servants the prophets whom I have sent to you, warning you in advance, but you have not hearkened;⁶ Then I will make this house like Shiloh and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.

⁷ So the priests and the false prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD.⁸ Now it came to pass when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the false prophets and all the people seized him, saying,⁹ He shall surely be put to death, for he has 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.¹⁰ When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the kings house to the house of the LORD and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the LORDS house.¹¹ Then the priests and the false prophets spoke to the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is guilty of death; for he has prophesied against this city and against its inhabitants, as you have heard with your ears.¹² Then Jeremiah spoke to 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 you have heard.¹³ Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will cease from the evil which he has pronounced against you.¹⁴ As for me, behold, I am in your hands; do with me as it seems right and proper to you.¹⁵ But you must know for certain that if you put me to death, you shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and upon its inhabitants; for of a truth the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.

¹⁶ Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and to the false prophets, This man is not guilty of death; for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.¹⁷ Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying,¹⁸ Micah the Morashite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and said to all the people of Judah, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the temple like a forest.¹⁹ Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? No, but they feared the LORD and prayed before him, and the LORD refrained from the evil which he had pronounced against them. And now, we wish to bring great evil upon ourselves.²⁰ And there was also another man who prophesied in the name of the LORD, Uriah the son of Shemaiah from Koriath-narin, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah;²¹ And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his servants and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Uriah heard of it, he was afraid; so he fled and went to Egypt;²² And King Jehoiakim sent a certain Egyptian, namely, Eliathan the son of Achbor, and certain other men with him to Egypt.²³ And they fetched Uriah from Egypt, and brought him to King Jehoiakim; who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the burial place of the common people.²⁴ Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that they might not deliver him into the hand of the people to put him to death.