The Letter of Shemaiah

²⁴ To Shemaiah of Nehelam you shall say: 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)