¹At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from Yahweh, saying:

²This is what Yahweh said: Stand in the court of the house of Yahweh, and speak to all the cities of Judah, those who come to bow down in the house of Yahweh, all the words that I commanded you to speak to them; do not diminish a word.

³Perhaps they will listen and each man will turn back from his evil way, and I will relent concerning the disaster that I am planning to do to them from the face of the badness of their deeds.

⁴And you will say to them: This is what Yahweh says: If you do not listen to me, to walk in my instruction that I have set before you,

⁵to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I am sending to you, rising early and sending, yet you have not listened.

⁶then I will set this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the land.

⁷And the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of Yahweh.

⁸And it happened, as Jeremiah finished speaking all that Yahweh had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying: You will surely die.

⁹Why have you prophesied in the name of Yahweh, saying: This house will be like Shiloh, and this city will lie waste with no one dwelling? And all the people assembled around Jeremiah in the house of Yahweh.

¹⁰And the officials of Judah heard these words, and they went up from the house of the king to the house of Yahweh, and they sat at the doorway of the new gate of Yahweh.

¹¹And the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, saying: A sentence of death for this man, for he has prophesied against this city, just as you have heard with your own ears.

¹²And Jeremiah said to all the officials and to all the people, saying: Yahweh sent me to prophesy all the words that you have heard against this house and against this city.

¹³And now, make your ways and your deeds good, and listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, and Yahweh will relent concerning the disaster that he has spoken against you.

¹⁴And as for me, here I am in your hand; do to me what is good and right in your eyes.

¹⁵Only, you must know for certain that if you put me to death, you are indeed putting innocent blood on yourselves, and on this city and on its inhabitants; for in truth Yahweh sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.

¹⁶And the officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets: There is no sentence of death for this man, for he has spoken to us in the name of Yahweh our God.

¹⁷And men from the elders of the land rose up, and said to all the assembly of the people, saying:

¹⁸Micah the Morasthite was prophesying in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and he said to all the people of Judah, saying: This is what Yahweh of hosts says: Zion will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the house will be high places of the forest.

¹⁹Did Hezekiah, king of Judah, and all Judah really put him to death? Did he not fear Yahweh, and entreat the face of Yahweh, and did Yahweh not relent concerning the disaster that he had spoken against them? And we are doing a great evil against our living beings.

²⁰And also a man was prophesying in the name of Yahweh, Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim; and he prophesied against this city and against this land, just like all the words of Jeremiah.

²¹And King Jehoiakim and all his mighty men and all the officials heard his words, and the king sought to put him to death; and Uriah heard, and was afraid, and fled, and went to Egypt.

²²And King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt: Elnathan son of Achbor, and men with him, to Egypt.

²³And they brought Uriah out of Egypt, and they brought him to King Jehoiakim, and he struck him down with the sword and threw his carcass into the graves of the sons of the people.

²⁴Only the hand of Ahikam son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so as not to give him into the hand of the people to put him to death.