¹⁹ They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, says the Lord, to deliver you.”^(A)

⁹ I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”^(A)

²⁵ Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: In your own name you sent letters to all the people who are in Jerusalem and to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah and to all the priests, saying,^{(A) 26} The Lord himself has made you priest instead of the priest Jehoiada, so that there may be officers in the house of the Lord to control any madman who plays the prophet, to put him in the stocks and the collar.^{(B) 27} So now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who plays the prophet for you? ²⁸ For he has actually sent to us in Babylon, saying, “It will be a long time; build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat what they produce.”

²⁹ The priest Zephaniah read this letter in the hearing of the prophet Jeremiah. ³⁰ Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ³¹ Send to all the exiles, saying, Thus says the Lord concerning Shemaiah of Nehelam: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and has led you to trust in a lie,^{(C) 32} therefore thus says the Lord: I am going to punish Shemaiah of Nehelam and his descendants; he shall not have anyone living among this people to see^[a] the good that I am going to do to my people, says the Lord, for he has spoken rebellion against the Lord.^(D)

¹¹ Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, “This man deserves the sentence of death because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.”^(A)

¹² Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and all the people, saying, “It is the Lord who sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard.^{(B) 13} Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will change his mind about the disaster that he has pronounced against you.^{(C) 14} But as for me, here I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you. ¹⁵ Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will be bringing innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants, for in truth the Lord sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”^(D)

¹⁶ Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “This man does not deserve the sentence of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.” ¹⁷ And some of the elders of the land arose and said to all the assembled people, ¹⁸ “Micah of Moresheth, who prophesied during the days of King Hezekiah of Judah, said to all the people of Judah: ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts,

¹⁹ “Did King Hezekiah of Judah and all Judah actually put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord, and did not the Lord change his mind about the disaster that he had pronounced against them? But we are about to bring great disaster on ourselves!”^(F)

²⁰ There was another man prophesying in the name of the Lord, Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land in words exactly like those of Jeremiah.^{(G) 21} And when King Jehoiakim, with all his warriors and all the officials, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death, but when Uriah heard of it, he was afraid and fled and escaped to Egypt.^{(H) 22} Then King Jehoiakim sent^[a] Elnathan son of Achbor and men with him to Egypt,^{(I) 23} and they took Uriah from Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, who struck him down with the sword and threw his dead body into the burial place of the common people.

²⁴ But the hand of Ahikam son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah so that he was not given over into the hands of the people to be put to death.^(J)

Jeremiah Complains Again and Is Reassured

¹⁰ Woe is me, my mother, that you ever bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me.^{(A) 11} The Lord said: Surely I have intervened in your life^[a] for good; surely I have brought enemies upon you^[b] in a time of trouble and in a time of distress.^{(B) 12} Can one break iron, iron from the north, and bronze?

¹³ Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder, without price, for all your sins, throughout all your territory.^{(C) 14} I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn against you.^(D)