Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it;

So now, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Behold, I am forming a disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Now turn back, each of you from his evil way, and correct your ways and your deeds!”’

Should good be repaid with evil? For they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You To speak good in their behalf, So as to turn Your wrath away from them.

and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I did not command nor speak of, nor did it ever enter My mind;

For each time I speak, I cry aloud; I proclaim violence and destruction, Because for me the word of the Lord has resulted In taunting and derision all day long.

But if I say, “I will not remember Him Nor speak anymore in His name,” Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; And I am tired of holding it in, And I cannot endure it.

Warning of Jerusalem’s Fall

This is what the Lord says: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and there speak this word,

I spoke to you in your prosperity; But you said, ‘I will not listen!’ This has been your way from your youth, That you have not obeyed My voice.

I did not send these prophets, But they ran. I did not speak to them, But they prophesied.

The prophet who has a dream may report his dream, but let him who has My word speak My word truthfully. What does straw have in common with grain?” declares the Lord.

This is what each one of you will say to his neighbor and to his brother: ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’

This is what you will say to that prophet: ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’

the word which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,

“From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years the word of the Lord has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.

“This is what the Lord says: ‘Stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah who have come to worship in the Lord’s house all the words that I have commanded you to speak to them. Do not omit a word!

A Plot to Murder Jeremiah

The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord.

Yet when Jeremiah finished speaking everything that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You must die!

Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the officials and to all the people, saying, “A death sentence for this man! For he has prophesied against this city, just as you have heard with your own ears!”

Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and to all the people, saying, “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.

Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, and on this city and its inhabitants; for truly the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words so that you hear them.”

Jeremiah Is Spared

Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “No death sentence for this man! For he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.”

Then some of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying,

“Micah of Moresheth used to prophesy in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah; and he spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘This is what the Lord of armies has said: “Zion will be plowed like a field, And Jerusalem will become heaps of ruins, And the mountain of the house like the high places of a forest.”’

I spoke words like all these to Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, “Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people, and live!

Why should you die, you and your people, by the sword, famine, and plague, as the Lord has spoken to the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?