Jeremiah 26

⁴Then Neco king of Egypt made Eliakim brother of Jehoahaz king over Judah and Jerusalem, and he changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Eliakim’s brother Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt.

⁵Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord his God.

¹At the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord.

¹This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah:

³⁴Then Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah, and he changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz and carried him off to Egypt, where he died.

³⁵So Jehoiakim paid the silver and gold to Pharaoh Neco, but to meet Pharaoh’s demand he taxed the land and exacted the silver and the gold from the people, each according to his wealth.

¹In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord:

¹This is the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

²You must not add to or subtract from what I command you, so that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I am giving you.

²⁷For I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole will of God.

²⁰and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

¹⁷Get yourself ready. Stand up and tell them everything that I command you. Do not be intimidated by them, or I will terrify you before them.

¹⁴Then Jeremiah returned from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the courtyard of the house of the Lord and proclaimed to all the people,

²“Stand in the gate of the house of the Lord and proclaim this message: Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the Lord.

³Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about all the calamity I plan to bring upon them, each of them will turn from his wicked way. Then I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.”

⁷At any time I might announce that a nation or kingdom will be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed.

⁸But if that nation I warned turns from its evil, then I will relent of the disaster I had planned to bring.

²So he prayed to the Lord, saying, “O Lord, is this not what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I was so quick to flee toward Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion—One who relents from sending disaster.

¹⁶Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil!

¹⁷Learn to do right; seek justice and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.”

⁸Furthermore, let both man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and have everyone call out earnestly to God. Let each one turn from his evil ways and from the violence in his hands.

⁹Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His fierce anger, so that we will not perish.”

⁷Perhaps they will bring their petition before the Lord, and each one will turn from his wicked way; for great are the anger and fury that the Lord has pronounced against this people.”

⁶But if indeed you or your sons turn away from following Me and do not keep the commandments and statutes I have set before you, and if you go off to serve and worship other gods,

²⁰But if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

¹⁰To this day they have not humbled themselves or shown reverence, nor have they followed My instruction or the statutes that I set before you and your fathers.

⁸And what nation is great enough to have righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?

¹⁹But if you turn away and forsake the statutes and commandments I have set before you, and if you go off to serve and worship other gods,

²⁰then I will uproot Israel from the soil I have given them, and I will banish from My presence this temple I have sanctified for My Name. I will make it an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.

¹⁵If, however, you do not obey the Lord your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

¹⁶You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.

⁷For from the time I brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt until today, I strongly warned them again and again, saying, ‘Obey My voice.’

¹³And now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, and because I have spoken to you again and again but you would not listen, and I have called to you but you would not answer,

⁷And you are to strike down the house of your master Ahab, so that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of the Lord shed by the hand of Jezebel.

²⁵From the day your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets again and again.

³“From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day—twenty-three years—the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.

⁴And the Lord has sent all His servants the prophets to you again and again, but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear.

¹¹that You gave through Your servants the prophets, saying: ‘The land that you are entering to possess is a land polluted by the impurity of its peoples and the abominations with which they have filled it from end to end.

⁹I will make them a horror and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing wherever I have banished them.

¹⁹because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its people, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I have heard you,’ declares the Lord.

¹⁵You will leave behind your name as a curse for My chosen ones, and the Lord God will slay you; but to His servants He will give another name.

¹⁸to make them a ruin, an object of horror and contempt and cursing, as they are to this day—Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials;

¹¹All Israel has transgressed Your law and turned away, refusing to obey Your voice; so the oath and the curse written in the Law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on us, because we have sinned against You.

¹⁹Now Eli’s daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and about to give birth. When she heard the news of the capture of God’s ark and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband, she collapsed and gave birth, for her labor pains overtook her.

²⁰As she was dying, the women attending to her said, “Do not be afraid, for you have given birth to a son!” But she did not respond or pay any heed.

³¹The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it so, but what will you do in the end?

¹¹Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean upon the Lord, saying, “Is not the Lord among us? No disaster can come upon us.”

¹⁵But the chief priests and scribes were indignant when they saw the wonders He performed and the children shouting in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”

¹⁷Then the high priest and all his associates, who belonged to the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. They went out

¹While Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them,

²greatly disturbed that they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.

⁴Her prophets are reckless, faithless men. Her priests profane the sanctuary; they do violence to the law.

¹³But this was for the sins of her prophets and the guilt of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in her midst.

¹⁴They wandered blind in the streets, defiled by this blood, so that no one dared to touch their garments.

¹⁸Then some said, “Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah, for the law will never be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the wise, nor an oracle to the prophet. Come, let us denounce him and pay no heed to any of his words.”

⁵²Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers—

³³When the Council members heard this, they were enraged, and they resolved to put the apostles to death.

⁶The rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them.

¹When Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer and the chief official in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things,

²he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord.

¹⁷But to keep this message from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them not to speak to anyone in this name.”

¹⁸Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

²⁰But the chief priests and elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus put to death.

²³When Jesus returned to the temple courts and began to teach, the chief priests and elders of the people came up to Him. “By what authority are You doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave You this authority?”

³⁰The whole city was stirred up, and the people rushed together. They seized Paul and dragged him out of the temple, and at once the gates were shut.

²¹those who indict a man with a word, who ensnare the mediator at the gate, and who with false charges deprive the innocent of justice.

¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas to them instead.

¹⁰From the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe, which was in the upper courtyard at the opening of the New Gate of the house of the Lord, Baruch read from the scroll the words of Jeremiah in the hearing of all the people.

¹²he went down to the scribe’s chamber in the king’s palace, where all the officials were sitting: Elishama the scribe, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials.

¹³And Micaiah reported to them all the words he had heard Baruch read from the scroll in the hearing of the people.

⁶See how every prince of Israel within you has used his power to shed blood.

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

³⁵Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away; the people continued sacrificing and burning incense there. Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the house of the Lord.

¹⁹The officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the court officials, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf,

⁴Then the officials said to the king, “This man ought to die, for he is discouraging the warriors who remain in this city, as well as all the people, by speaking such words to them; this man is not seeking the well-being of these people, but their ruin.”

⁶⁶What do you think?” “He deserves to die,” they answered.

²⁰But if any prophet dares to speak a message in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or to speak in the name of other gods, that prophet must be put to death.”

¹¹Then they prompted some men to say, “We heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God.”

¹²So they stirred up the people, elders, and scribes and confronted Stephen. They seized him and brought him before the Sanhedrin,

²where the chief priests and Jewish leaders presented their case against Paul. They urged Festus

³to grant them a concession against Paul by summoning him to Jerusalem, because they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way.

²²The crowd listened to Paul until he made this statement. Then they lifted up their voices and shouted, “Rid the earth of him! He is not fit to live!”

²⁹But Peter and the other apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than men.

¹⁹But Peter and John replied, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than God.

¹⁵But know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves, upon this city, and upon its residents; for truly the Lord has sent me to speak all these words in your hearing.”

¹⁷Get yourself ready. Stand up and tell them everything that I command you. Do not be intimidated by them, or I will terrify you before them.

¹⁸Now behold, this day I have made you like a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land.

²“This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard of the house of the Lord and speak all the words I have commanded you to speak to all the cities of Judah who come to worship there. Do not omit a word.

¹⁵But the Lord took me from following the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’

¹⁶Now, therefore, hear the word of the Lord. You say: ‘Do not prophesy against Israel; do not preach against the house of Isaac.’

²So he prayed to the Lord, saying, “O Lord, is this not what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I was so quick to flee toward Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion—One who relents from sending disaster.

⁹Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His fierce anger, so that we will not perish.”

¹⁹If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best of the land.

³Perhaps they will listen and turn—each from his evil way of life—so that I may relent of the disaster I am planning to bring upon them because of the evil of their deeds.

⁷Let the wicked man forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.

³Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Correct your ways and deeds, and I will let you live in this place.

⁴Do not trust in deceptive words, saying: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’

²⁵Now we are in your hands. Do to us whatever seems good and right to you.”

²⁶But if He should say, ‘I do not delight in you,’ then here I am; let Him do to me whatever seems good to Him.”

⁵“Here he is,” replied King Zedekiah. “He is in your hands, since the king can do nothing to stop you.”

¹⁶Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.

³³Do not pollute the land where you live, for bloodshed pollutes the land, and no atonement can be made for the land on which the blood is shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it.

¹⁷haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,

²⁵Then Judas, who would betray Him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” Jesus answered, “You have said it yourself.”

⁶if you no longer oppress the foreigner and the fatherless and the widow, and if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods to your own harm,

⁶⁰Falling on his knees, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

³This is what the Lord says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Do not shed innocent blood in this place.

²⁹I found that the accusation involved questions about their own law, but there was no charge worthy of death or imprisonment.

²⁵But I found he had done nothing worthy of death, and since he has now appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him.

³⁴But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a short time.

³⁵“Men of Israel,” he said, “consider carefully what you are about to do to these men.

⁹A great clamor arose, and some scribes from the party of the Pharisees got up and contended sharply, “We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?”

¹⁹Then the officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah must hide yourselves and tell no one where you are.”

¹⁴and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined Him here in your presence and found Him not guilty of your charges against Him.

¹⁵Neither has Herod, for he sent Him back to us. As you can see, He has done nothing deserving of death.

³⁴But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a short time.

¹This is the word of the Lord that came to Micah the Moreshite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—what he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem:

³This is what the Lord says: “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the Lord of Hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.”

¹This is the word of the Lord that came to Micah the Moreshite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—what he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem:

²before his associates and the army of Samaria, saying, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Can they restore the wall by themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Can they bring these burnt stones back to life from the mounds of rubble?”

³O My mountain in the countryside, I will give over your wealth and all your treasures as plunder, because of the sin of your high places, within all your borders.

¹²Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.

²In the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.

³And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

¹⁶But when the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁴So the Lord relented from the calamity He had threatened to bring on His people.

⁶For our fathers were unfaithful and did evil in the sight of the Lord our God. They abandoned Him, turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the Lord, and turned their backs on Him.

⁷They also shut the doors of the portico and extinguished the lamps. They did not burn incense or present burnt offerings in the Holy Place of the God of Israel.

¹⁵And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord:

¹⁶“O Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.

¹On hearing this report, King Hezekiah tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and entered the house of the Lord.

³⁹But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God.”

²And from that day a long time passed, twenty years in all, as the ark remained at Kiriath-jearim. And all the house of Israel mournfully sought the Lord.

¹⁷So the Israelites set out and on the third day arrived at their cities—Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim.

⁶⁰Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), and Rabbah—two cities, along with their villages.

²¹So they sent messengers to the people of Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up with you.”

¹⁴On the west side the border curved southward from the hill facing Beth-horon on the south and came out at Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim), a city of the sons of Judah. This was the western side.

²³When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next. Truly I tell you, you will not reach all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

¹⁰Asa was angry with the seer and became so enraged over this matter that he put the man in prison. And at the same time Asa oppressed some of the people.

²⁶Instead, the king commanded Jerahmeel, a son of the king, as well as Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel, to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the Lord had hidden them.

⁵Although Herod wanted to kill John, he was afraid of the people, because they regarded John as a prophet.

²⁵The fear of man is a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is set securely on high.

²⁵For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

²⁶What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

¹²he went down to the scribe’s chamber in the king’s palace, where all the officials were sitting: Elishama the scribe, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials.

¹⁴So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went and spoke to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, the son of Harhas, the keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem, in the Second District.

¹²and commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the servant of the king:

¹²If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials will be wicked.

⁸The wicked wander freely, and vileness is exalted among men.

²⁵Even though Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.

³⁰“I have struck your sons in vain; they accepted no discipline. Your own sword has devoured your prophets like a voracious lion.”

⁷When the two witnesses have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will wage war with them, and will overpower and kill them.

³⁰Therefore this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on David’s throne, and his body will be thrown out and exposed to heat by day and frost by night.

¹About that time, King Herod reached out to harm some who belonged to the church.

²He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.

¹⁰and sent to have John beheaded in the prison.

⁶He prowled among the lions, and became a young lion. After learning to tear his prey, he devoured men.

¹⁸Now behold, this day I have made you like a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land.

¹⁹They will fight against you but will never overcome you, since I am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord.

⁵But before Jeremiah turned to go, Nebuzaradan added, “Return to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed over the cities of Judah, and stay with him among the people, or go anywhere else that seems right.” Then the captain of the guard gave him a ration and a gift and released him.

⁶So Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and stayed with him among the people who were left in the land.

¹⁴had Jeremiah brought from the courtyard of the guard, and they turned him over to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him home. So Jeremiah remained among his own people.

⁴for when Jezebel had slaughtered the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty men per cave, providing them with food and water.)

¹²and commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the servant of the king:

¹³“Go and inquire of the Lord for me, for the people, and for all Judah concerning the words in this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that burns against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book by doing all that is written about us.”

²⁰and commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the servant of the king: