The big picture
Early in the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Jeremiah is sent to the temple court in Jerusalem, the capital. Worshippers from across the kingdom must hear God's warning. If they refuse to change, their holy house will face ruin. Priests and prophets respond by demanding Jeremiah's death. Officials and elders then hear the case. Earlier treatment of other prophets becomes part of the argument, showing both a precedent for repentance and the very real danger of a ruler killing an unwelcome messenger.
In this chapter
- The Full Warning Leaves Room to Turn Jeremiah 26:1-6
Jeremiah must stand in the temple court.
- Religious Leaders Demand the Speaker Die Jeremiah 26:7-11
Priests, prophets, and the gathered people hear Jeremiah finish God's message.
- Jeremiah Defends the Message and Warns the Court Jeremiah 26:12-15
Jeremiah tells the officials and people that the Lord sent him to speak every word they heard.
- An Earlier Prophet Provides a Different Precedent Jeremiah 26:16-19
Officials and people tell the priests and prophets that Jeremiah does not deserve death because he spoke in God's name.
- Another Prophet Dies but Jeremiah Is Protected Jeremiah 26:20-24
Urijah, son of Shemaiah from the town of Kirjath-jearim, also speaks against the land and city in God's name.
Central truth
Jeremiah's temple warning provokes a demand for his death, but officials and elders recognise his claim to speak for God and preserve his life.
Scripture beside the summary
Jeremiah · King James Version · 24Jeremiah 26:1-6
The Full Warning Leaves Room to Turn
Jeremiah must stand in the temple court. God sends him to speak to all who come from the kingdom's towns. He must leave out none of the message. Perhaps each will listen and turn from evil. God can then withhold the disaster their conduct has brought upon them. The warning concerns refusal to obey his law and hear the prophets he repeatedly sent. If that continues, the temple will become like Shiloh, an earlier ruined sanctuary. The capital will become a name of cursing among the nations instead of a refuge from judgement.
In everyday life
A museum engineer gives trustees the full survey of a damaged roof, including the findings they hoped to leave out of the meeting. Repair remains possible if they act on what they hear. Omitting the danger would conceal the choice. God offers to withhold judgement when people turn from evil; the engineer describes a repairable structure.
Notice
Jeremiah 26:3 The possibility that people will listen explains why the warning must be spoken fully. Its aim includes turning them back, rather than merely announcing a fixed result.
Jeremiah 26:1-6
King James Version1In 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; Stand 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, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word:
3If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.
4And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you,
5To hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye have not hearkened;
6Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.
Jeremiah 26:7-11
Religious Leaders Demand the Speaker Die
Priests, prophets, and the gathered people hear Jeremiah finish God's message. They seize him and demand his death. How can he speak in God's name about the temple's ruin and an empty city? News brings royal officials from the palace to the temple, where they sit at a gate to hear the case. The priests and prophets present their charge to them and the crowd. They say the warning against the city itself deserves death. He called them to change. They treat that call as a reason to get rid of him.
In everyday life
A public-health witness finishes a warning about a contaminated community well and hears residents demand her dismissal for damaging the town's name. A hearing is arranged, but the first complaint concerns her words rather than the water. She waits to answer. Jeremiah faces execution for a divine warning, not loss of a professional post.
Notice
Jeremiah 26:11 The accusation rests on speaking against the city. The leaders treat the content of the warning as proof of guilt instead of addressing its call to change.
Jeremiah 26:7-11
King James Version7So the 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 the 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 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.
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 the 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; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.
Jeremiah 26:12-15
Jeremiah Defends the Message and Warns the Court
Jeremiah tells the officials and people that the Lord sent him to speak every word they heard. He again urges changed conduct and obedience so God will withhold the announced disaster. As for himself, he is in their power, and they can do what they judge fitting. But he warns that killing him will bring guilt for innocent blood upon them and the city. His defence does not retract the warning. They have power to kill him. That does not give them the right to call him guilty.
In everyday life
A union representative stands before a hostile committee and repeats the evidence that brought her there. She knows the members can remove her, but their power does not make the accusation against her true. She asks them to address the harm she reported. Jeremiah's defence concerns a divine commission and the guilt of killing an innocent prophet.
Notice
Jeremiah 26:15 Jeremiah acknowledges their power over his body while denying his guilt. Possessing authority to act does not make the threatened action right before God.
Jeremiah 26:12-15
King James Version12Then 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 amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.
14As for me, behold, I am in your hand: do 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.
Jeremiah 26:16-19
An Earlier Prophet Provides a Different Precedent
Officials and people tell the priests and prophets that Jeremiah does not deserve death because he spoke in God's name. Elders recall an earlier prophet, Micah the Morasthite. During King Hezekiah's reign, he warned of ruin for the capital and temple hill. Did that king kill him? Instead he feared God and sought his favour, and the threatened disaster was withheld. The elders warn that killing Jeremiah would bring grave harm on themselves. The former king heard and changed. These hearers have that choice too.
In everyday life
A school governor retrieves minutes from an earlier safety dispute. They show that a severe warning once led the board to change its practice rather than dismiss the speaker. She reads the resulting decision to a newly hostile meeting. The elders recall a prophet and God's withheld judgement, not merely an effective board response.
Notice
Jeremiah 26:19 The precedent includes both hearing the warning and seeking God. The elders use the former king's response to show that a threatening prophecy need not be answered with execution.
Jeremiah 26:16-19
King James Version16Then 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.
17Then rose up certain of the elders of the land, and spake to all the assembly of the people, saying,
18Micah 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; Zion 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? did he not fear the LORD, and besought the LORD, and the LORD repented him of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Thus might we procure great evil against our souls.
Jeremiah 26:20-24
Another Prophet Dies but Jeremiah Is Protected
Urijah, son of Shemaiah from the town of Kirjath-jearim, also speaks against the land and city in God's name. Jehoiakim seeks his death, so he flees to Egypt, the neighbouring southern kingdom. The king sends Elnathan, son of Achbor, with others to bring him back. Urijah is killed with a sword and buried among ordinary people. Ahikam, son of Shaphan, has enough influence to help Jeremiah. His support keeps the prophet from being handed over for execution. Jeremiah faces a real threat of death. Help from this man keeps him alive.
In everyday life
A freelance journalist meets a legal supporter after learning that another reporter with a similar case was killed. The supporter arranges protection instead of assuming a favourable hearing alone will keep her safe. The earlier death makes the danger real. Jeremiah's account concerns prophets speaking God's word and a royal execution, not modern reporting.
Notice
Jeremiah 26:24 Ahikam's support is named as the reason Jeremiah is not handed over. The chapter does not leave his survival as an abstract verdict without human action behind it.
Jeremiah 26:20-24
King James Version20And there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath-jearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah:
21And when 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, Elnathan the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into Egypt.
23And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king; who slew him with the sword, and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people.
24Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
Jeremiah 26:1 begins with “In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word from the LORD, saying,”
Where the chapter turns
Jeremiah 26:12 forms a natural hinge: “Then 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…”
The final note
Jeremiah 26:24 leaves the reader with “Nevertheless the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.”
A word trail through the chapter
The words LORD, house, people, Judah, king, words help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- diminish
- Reduce or leave out part of what has been given.
- meet
- Fitting or appropriate for the matter being considered.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
