Jeremiah Spared from Death

^16 (A)Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, ^(B)“This man does not deserve the sentence of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.”

²⁹ I found that he was being accused ^(A)about questions of their law, but ^(B)charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment.

⁹ Then a great clamor arose, and some of ^(A)the scribes of the Pharisees' party stood up and contended sharply, ^(B)“We find nothing wrong in this man. What ^(C)if a spirit or an angel spoke to him?”

³⁴ But a Pharisee in the council named ^(A)Gamaliel, ^(B)a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. ³⁵ And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. ³⁶ For ^(C)before these days Theudas rose up, ^(D)claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. ³⁷ After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of ^(E)the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. ³⁸ So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for ^(F)if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; ³⁹ but ^(G)if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You ^(H)might even be found opposing God!” So they took his advice,

²⁵ But I found that ^(A)he had done nothing deserving death. And ^(B)as he himself appealed to ^(C)the emperor, I decided to go ahead and send him.

²⁵ Even when ^(A)Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah ^(B)urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.

¹⁹ Then the officials said to Baruch, “Go and hide, you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are.”

³¹ And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, ^(A)“This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.” ³² And Agrippa said to Festus, ^(B)“This man could have been set ^(C)free if he had not appealed ^(D)to Caesar.”

⁴⁷ Now ^(A)when the centurion saw what had taken place, ^(B)he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!”