Jeremiah:26
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Shortly after Jehoiakim son of Josiah became king of Judah ,
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Jehovah said to me : »
Stand in the court of the Temple and proclaim all I have commanded you to say to the people who come from the towns of Judah to worship there .
Do not omit anything .
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Perhaps the people will listen and give up their evil ways .
If they do I will change my mind about the destruction I plan to bring on them for all their wicked deeds .
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Jehovah told me to say to the people :
I Jehovah said that you must obey me by following the teaching that I gave you .
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You are to pay attention to the words of my servants ,
the prophets ,
whom I kept sending to you .
You have never obeyed what they said .
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If you continue to disobey I will do to this Temple what I did to Shiloh ,
and all the nations of the world will use the name of this city as a curse .« «
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The priests ,
the prophets ,
and all the people heard me saying these things in the Temple .
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As soon as I had finished saying all that Jehovah commanded me to say ,
they grabbed me and shouted : »
You ought to be killed for this !
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Why have you said in Jehovah
s name that this Temple will become like Shiloh and that this city will be destroyed and no one will live in it ?«
Then the people crowded around me .
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When the leaders of Judah heard what had happened ,
they hurried from the royal palace to the Temple and took their places at the New Gate .
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The priests and the prophets said to the leaders and to the people : »
This man deserves to be sentenced to death because he has spoken against our city .
You heard him with your own ears .«
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Then I Jeremiah said : »
Jehovah sent me to proclaim everything that you heard me say against this Temple and against this city .
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You must change the way you are living and the things you are doing .
You must obey Jehovah your God .
If you do ,
he will change his mind about the destruction that he said he would bring on you .
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I am in your hand !
Do with me whatever you think is fair and right .
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But if you put me to death ,
you and everyone else in Jerusalem will be guilty of murdering an innocent man .
This is because everything I spoke came from Jehovah .«
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The judges and the other people told the priests and prophets : »
Since Jeremiah only told us what Jehovah our God had said ,
we do not think he deserves to die .«
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Then some of the leaders from other towns stepped forward .
They told the crowd :
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Years ago when Hezekiah was king of Judah ,
a prophet named Micah from the town of Moresheth said :
Jehovah of Hosts says , »
Jerusalem will be plowed under and left in ruins .
Thorns will cover the mountain where the Temple now stands .«
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Then the leaders continued : »
No one put Micah to death for saying that .
Instead ,
King Hezekiah prayed to Jehovah with reverence and trembling and asked him to have mercy .
Then Jehovah decided not to destroy Jerusalem ,
even though he had already said he would .
People of Judah ,
if Jeremiah is killed we will bring a terrible disaster on ourselves .
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There was another man prophesying in the name of Jehovah .
His name was Uriah ,
son of Shemaiah ,
from Kiriath Jearim .
He prophesied against this city and this land as Jeremiah did .
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When King Jehoiakim and all his personal troops and officials heard what Uriah said the king wanted to put him to death .
But Uriah heard about it and fled in fear to Egypt .
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King Jehoiakim sent soldiers to Egypt :
Elnathan son of Achbor and other soldiers along with him .
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They brought Uriah from Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim .
The king executed Uriah and threw his body into the burial ground for the common people .«
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Ahikam ,
son of Shaphan ,
supported Jeremiah .
So Jeremiah was not handed over to the people to be put to death .