¹At the start of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, this word came from the Lord as follows: ²“This is what the Lord says: ‘Stand in the courtyard of the house of the Lord and speak against all the cities of Judah which come to worship in the house of the Lord, and speak all the words which I have commanded you to speak to them. Do not withhold a word. ³Perhaps they will listen and will turn back, each from his evil way, and I will renounce the evil which I am considering to do to them because of the wickedness of their deeds. ⁴And you will say to them, «This is what the Lord says: ‹If you do not heed me, that you are to walk in my law which I have set before you, ⁵to heed the words of my servants the prophets whom I send you, rising early and sending them, but you don't listen, ⁶then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.› » ’ ” ⁷And the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. ⁸And it came to pass, when Jeremiah had finished speaking everything that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him and said, “You will certainly die. ⁹Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘This house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be brought to ruin without leaving an inhabitant?’ ” And all the people were assembled against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. ¹⁰And when the officials of Judah heard these words, they went up from the king's house to the house of the Lord, and they sat at the entrance of the New Gate of the house of the Lord. ¹¹And the priests and the prophets spoke to the officials and to all the people and said, “We pronounce a death penalty on this man, because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.” ¹²Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and to all the people and said, “The Lord has sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all these words which you have heard. ¹³So now, mend your ways and correct your deeds and heed the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will renounce the harm which he has spoken against you. ¹⁴And as for me, here I am in your hands. Do to me what is right and proper in your eyes. ¹⁵But be well aware that if you put me to death, then you will be putting innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on its inhabitants, because the Lord has truly sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.” ¹⁶Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, “This man is not deserving of a death penalty, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.” ¹⁷And men from the elders of the land stood up and spoke to the whole convocation of the people and said, ¹⁸“Micah the Morashtite used to prophesy in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and he spoke to all the people of Judah and said, ‘This is what the Lord of hosts says:

«Zion will be ploughed like a field,

And Jerusalem will become heaps of stones,

And the mountain of the house

Will become the heights of a forest.» ’

¹⁹Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all of Judah go ahead and put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the Lord so that the Lord renounced the harm which he had spoken against them? Now we are committing a great evil against ourselves. ²⁰And there was also a man who prophesied in the name of the Lord: Uriah the son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-Jearim, and he prophesied against this city and against this land similarly to all the words of Jeremiah. ²¹But when King Jehoiakim and all his warriors and all the officials heard his words, the king looked for a way to put him to death. But when Uriah heard about it, he was afraid, and he fled and went to Egypt. ²²Then King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt: Elnathan the son of Achbor, and men with him, to Egypt. ²³And they brought Uriah out of Egypt, and they brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who struck him with the sword and cast his corpse into the graves of the ordinary people.” ²⁴And the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that he was not delivered into the hand of the people for them to put him to death.