Jeremiahchapter 26
24 verses · KJVJeremiah book hub →
Key verse
Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spake to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.
It stands in scene B of the chapter, verses 10 to 19.
The chapter
Chapter summary
The temple sermon told again, this time from the outside, as courtroom drama. Jeremiah stands in the court and is told to hold back not a word; when he finishes, priests, prophets, and all the people seize him: 'Thou shalt surely die.' The princes come up and sit in judgment at the new gate. Jeremiah's defense is simply his commission. Amend your ways, and Jehovah will repent of the evil; as for me, I am in your hand. The elders rescue him with precedent, recalling Micah of Moresheth, who said Zion should be plowed as a field, and Hezekiah, who repented rather than killed. The counter-example is chilling: Uriah, extradited from Egypt and executed. Ahikam's hand keeps Jeremiah alive.
Context
Prophecy · Jeremiah · Jeremiah overview
Where the chapter sits
Jeremiah 26 falls in Against kings, prophets, and priests (chapters 21–29). Oracles against Judah's last kings; the Branch (23:5–6); false prophets; Hananiah's yoke; the letter to the exiles.
Before it: Temple sermon and symbolic acts, chapters 7–20. After it: Book of consolation, chapters 30–33.
The whole shape of Jeremiah→The world behind itThe date, the place, the people, and the works this site draws the setting from.
The history
This is the trial that followed the temple-gate sermon of chapter 7. The priests and prophets seize him and the charge is capital: he prophesied against this city. The officials of Judah come up from the palace and take their seats at the entry of the New Gate, a city gate was where court was held, and the officials sat as judges with the crowd standing as the public.
Jeremiah's defence is procedural and brave at once. He does not deny the words; he says God sent him, tells the court to amend their ways, and adds that if they kill him they will bring innocent blood on themselves and the city.
The elders then argue precedent, which is how such cases were won. They cite Micah of Moresheth, who a hundred years earlier had said Zion would be plowed as a field, and point out that King Hezekiah did not put him to death but repented, and the disaster was averted. That is case law, quoted accurately, from a book the court had.
The counter-example is chilling. Uriah son of Shemaiah prophesied the same message, fled to Egypt, and Jehoiakim sent men after him, had him extradited, killed him and threw his body into a commoners' burial ground. Extradition of a fugitive was a standard clause in treaties between states, and Judah at this moment was under Egyptian control, so the request was easy to grant.
What it meant to them
For first hearers this chapter answers a live question: what actually happens to a man who says what Jeremiah says. Sometimes the elders remember Micah. Sometimes the king sends soldiers to Egypt.
The man who saves his life is named, Ahikam son of Shaphan, from the scribal family that had served in Josiah's reform. Clay seal impressions bearing the names of members of that family have been found in the burnt debris of Jerusalem's final destruction. This is one of the places where the Bible's cast of characters and the dirt of the City of David overlap.
Sources cited
- Kenneth A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament
- Walton, Matthews and Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
A. Prophesy in the Court: This House Shall Be Like Shiloh
1. (vv. 1-3)
a.In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim: The scene is dated to the beginning of Jehoiakim's reign, earlier than chapter 25's fourth year, so this chapter narrates the trial the temple sermon of chapter 7 provoked, the same message the bench reads both passages as recording from two angles. Diminish not a word is the charge given to the messenger, full transmission demanded whatever it costs the one who speaks it. Verse 3 keeps the door open even as the sentence is pronounced, if so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, judgment offered as a warning rather than announced as already fixed.
Jeremiah 26:1, 1 voiceWhat preachers and commentators have said about these verses, in their own words.
Jeremiah 26:1
“Jer. 26 is a narrative of the danger to which Jeremiah was exposed by reason of the prophecy contained in Jer. 7 and should be read in connection with it. Jer 26:4-6 contain a summary of the prediction contained in Jer. 7, and that again is but an outline of what was a long address.”
Jeremiah 26:2, 1 voice
Jeremiah 26:2
“He must assure them that if they would repent of their sins, and turn from them, though they were in imminent danger of ruin and desolating judgments were just at the door, yet a stop should be put to them, and God would proceed no further in his controversy with them,”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2. (vv. 4-6)
a.If ye will not hearken to me: The condition is walking in my law and hearkening to my servants the prophets, the same rising up early figure chapter 25 already uses of a warning refused. The threatened consequence names a place rather than a generality, this house like Shiloh, the sanctuary destroyed after Eli's sons and never rebuilt, so the temple standing in Jerusalem is told it can share the fate of the tabernacle that stood before it. This city a curse to all the nations of the earth is the same sentence chapter 25 will widen across the nations that drink the cup, judgment on Jerusalem stated as the pattern for judgment everywhere.
Jeremiah 26:4, 1 voice
Jeremiah 26:4
“If ye will not hearken - This and several of the following verses are nearly the same with those in Jer 7:13, etc., where see the notes.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3. (vv. 7-9)
a.heard Jeremiah speaking these words: The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord, the same courtyard named in chapter 7's sermon now filling with the crowd that will demand his life. The moment he finishes, they took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die, an immediate verdict rather than a threat. Verse 9 states the specific charge, prophesied in the name of the Lord... this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant, the Shiloh comparison read as an attack on the temple's own permanence rather than a warning meant to be heeded.
Jeremiah 26:8, 1 voice
Jeremiah 26:8
“The charge against Jeremiah was that of uttering falsehood in Jehovah's name, an act punishable with death (De 18:20). His prophecy against the temple and city (Jer 26:11) might speciously be represented as contradicting God's own words (Ps 132:14).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jeremiah 26:9, 1 voice
Jeremiah 26:9
“The charge against Jeremiah was that of prophesying falsely, for which the penalty was death Deu 18:20. They assumed that it was absolutely impossible that Jerusalem ever could become like Shiloh. Against Jeremiah - unto Jeremiah. They regularly constituted themselves a congregation to take part in his trial.”
B. The Princes Judge, and Micah of Moresheth Is Remembered
1. (vv. 10-11)
a.sat down in the entry of the new gate: The princes of Judah leave the king's house for the temple and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the Lord's house, the same gate chapter 36:10 will name again, a recognized place of public judgment rather than a private hearing. Their arrival turns a mob into a court, the priests and the prophets pressing the charge formally before the assembly, this man is worthy to die, and citing his own words as the evidence, as ye have heard with your ears. The chapter's legal shape, charge, defense, precedent and verdict, is unusual enough among the prophetic books that the bench reads it as Scripture's own transcript of a capital trial.
Jeremiah 26:10, 1 voice
Jeremiah 26:10
“The princes of Judah - The priests could scourge a man etc., but could not then try him for his life, as the Sanhedrim subsequently did until the Romans deprived them of the power. The new gate - That built by Jotham 2Ki 15:35, and probably a usual place for trials.”
Jeremiah 26:11, 1 voice
Jeremiah 26:11
“For the prophets prophesied falsely, and the priests bore rule by their means, ch. v. 31 . Observe, When Jeremiah is indicted before the princes the stress of his accusation is laid upon what he said concerning the city, because they thought the princes would be most concerned about that.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2. (vv. 12-15)
a.The Lord sent me to prophesy: Jeremiah does not deny a word of the charge; his defense is the source, the Lord sent me, and his counsel is the same offer verse 3 already made, amend your ways and your doings... and the Lord will repent him of the evil. Behold, I am in your hand, do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you submits his body to the court while his conscience does not yield the message, courage and submission held together rather than traded against each other. Verse 15 turns the courtroom around without raising his voice, if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon this city, the judges warned that they, not the prisoner, are the ones now standing before a higher bar.
Jeremiah 26:12, 2 voices
Jeremiah 26:12
“The Lord sent me to prophesy - My commission is from him, and my words are his own. I sought not this painful office. I did not run before I was sent.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Jeremiah 26:12
“They had used the same Hebrew word (Jer 26:11), which ought to be translated "concerning," though they meant it in the unfavorable sense. Jeremiah takes up their word in a better sense, implying that there is still room for repentance: that his prophecies aim at the real good of the city; for or concerning this house . . . city [GROTIUS].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jeremiah 26:14, 1 voice
Jeremiah 26:14
“As for me, behold, I am in your hand - I am the messenger of God; you may do with me what you please; but if you slay me, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Jeremiah 26:15, 1 voice
Jeremiah 26:15
“They might think that killing the prophet would help to defeat the prophecy, but they would prove wretchedly deceived; it would but add to their guilt and aggravate their ruin. Their own consciences could not but tell them that, if Jeremiah was (as certainly he was) sent of God to bring them this message, it was at their utmost peril if they treated him for it as a malefactor.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
3. (v. 16)
a.This man is not worthy to die: The verdict comes from the same body that first seized him, the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets, the assembly and its rulers now standing against the very priests and prophets who brought the charge. This man is not worthy to die states the ground plainly, for he hath spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God, the claim to divine commission accepted as a defense rather than dismissed as the crime itself. The reversal is total, from thou shalt surely die at verse 8 to not worthy to die inside a single chapter.
Jeremiah 26:16, 2 voices
Jeremiah 26:16
“This man ... - literally, There is not to this man a sentence of death, i. e., he is acquitted by the princes and the congregation.”
Jeremiah 26:16
“The priests, through envy of his holy zeal, were more his enemies than the princes, whose office was more secular than religious. A prophet could not legally be put to death unless he prophesied in the name of other gods (therefore, they say, "in the name of the Lord"), or after his prophecy had failed in its accomplishment.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
4. (vv. 17-19)
a.certain of the elders of the land: answer the death sentence with a precedent rather than a plea, quoting Micah 3:12 by name and by its exact words a century earlier, Zion shall be plowed like a field, one of the rare places in the Old Testament where one canonical prophet's words are cited verbatim by another. Verse 19 draws the conclusion, did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death?, naming a king who feared the Lord and besought him instead, and the Lord repented him of the evil, judgment withdrawn rather than a prophet punished for pronouncing it. Thus might we procure great evil against our souls turns the argument on the assembly itself, execution now framed as the sin rather than the message that provoked the charge.
Jeremiah 26:17, 1 voice
Jeremiah 26:17
“Then rose up certain of the elders of the land,.... The same with the princes; some of the court, who rose up as advocates for the prophet: and spake to all the assembly of the people: to justify the vote of the court, and to confirm the people in a good opinion of it, by giving them examples and instances of the like kind: saying; as follows:”
Jeremiah 26:18, 3 voices
Jeremiah 26:18
“Micah the Morasthite - The same as stands among the prophets. Now all these prophesied as hard things against the land as Jeremiah has done; yet they were not put to death, for the people saw that they were sent of God.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Jeremiah 26:18
“Morasthite--called so from a village of the tribe Judah. Hezekiah--The precedent in the reign of such a good king proved that Jeremiah was not the only prophet, or the first, who threatened the city and the temple without incurring death. mountain of the house--Moriah, on which stood the temple (peculiarly called "the house") shall be covered with woods instead of buildings.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jeremiah 26:18
“Micah - This was that Micah, whose prophecies are part of holy writ, as appears by Micah i, 1; iii, 12, where are the very words of the prophecy here mentioned, the substance of whose prophecy was the same with this, that Zion should be plowed up, and the place where the temple stood, should become so desolate that trees should grow there, as in a forest.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
C. Uriah Slain; Ahikam's Hand Shields Jeremiah
1. (vv. 20-23)
a.there was also a man that prophesied: The narrative sets a second case beside the first without softening it, there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the Lord, Urijah the son of Shemaiah, prophesying according to all the words of Jeremiah and meeting a different king. Jehoiakim sought to put him to death, and when Urijah fled to Egypt in fear the king sent Elnathan the son of Achbor after him, fetched him out, and slew him with the sword, casting his body into the graves of the common people, a dishonor added to the execution. The bench reads the two cases together as deliberate: Hezekiah's Judah heard Micah and repented, Jehoiakim's Judah hears the same warning and kills the messenger, the same charge answered by two very different kings.
Jeremiah 26:20, 2 voices
Jeremiah 26:20
“Urijah - who prophesied - The process against Jeremiah is finished at the nineteenth verse; and the case of Urijah is next brought on, for he was also to be tried for his life; but hearing of it he fled to Egypt. He was however condemned in his absence; and the king sent to Egypt, and brought him thence and slew him, and caused him to have an ignominious burial, Jer 26:21-23.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Jeremiah 26:20
“And there was - This is a story which we have recorded in no other part of scripture. They are probably the words of some others, who were enemies to Jeremiah.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Jeremiah 26:21, 1 voice
Jeremiah 26:21
“Note, There are many that have much grace, but they have little courage, that are very honest, but withal very timorous. His execution notwithstanding. Jehoiakim's malice, one would think, might have contented itself with his banishment, and it might suffice to have driven him out of the country; but those are bloodthirsty that hate the upright, Prov. xxix.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jeremiah 26:22, 2 voices
Jeremiah 26:22
“And Jehoiakim sent men into Egypt,.... To seek for him; and to require the delivery of him upon being found: namely, Elnathan the son of Achbor; the father of this man very probably is the same we read of in Josiah's time, 2Ki 22:12; who is called Abdon in 2Ch 34:20; and certain men with him, into Egypt; to assist him in taking him, whose names are not mentioned; Elnathan's is, as being the principal, and to fix an eternal infamy upon him.”
Jeremiah 26:22
“This explains the readiness with which he got the Egyptians to give up Urijah to him, when that prophet had sought an asylum in Egypt. Urijah was faithful in delivering his message, but faulty in leaving his work, so God permitted him to lose his life, while Jeremiah was protected in danger. The path of duty is often the path of safety.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2. (v. 24)
a.the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan: The chapter closes on one name doing what the court's verdict alone might not have secured, the hand of Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah, so that he should not be given into the hand of the people to put him to death. Ahikam's family recurs through the book, his son Gedaliah is later made governor over the land after Jerusalem falls, the same household protecting Jeremiah at the trial and administering the remnant left in the land afterward. The verdict and the protector are both named, the assembly's acquittal and one man's standing together as the means by which the prophet survived.
Jeremiah 26:24, 3 voices
Jeremiah 26:24
“The hand of Ahikam - was with Jeremiah - And it was probably by his influence that Jeremiah did not share the same fate with Urijah. The Ahikam mentioned here was probably the father of Gedaliah, who, after the capture of Jerusalem, was appointed governor of the country by Nebuchadnezzar, Jer 40:5. Of the Prophet Urijah, whether he was true or false, we know nothing but what we learn from this place.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Jeremiah 26:24
“Ahikam--son of Shaphan the scribe, or royal secretary. He was one of those whom King Josiah, when struck by the words of the book of the law, sent to inquire of the Lord (2Ki 22:12, 14). Hence his interference here in behalf of Jeremiah is what we should expect from his past association with that good king.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Jeremiah 26:24
“It is here left upon record, as it were, by way of appeal to the judgment of impartial men in all ages, whether Jeremiah was worthy to die for delivering such a message as this from God, and whether his persecutors were not very wicked and unreasonable men.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Jeremiah 26. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on 9 works. Open for the list.
This page draws on Adam Clarke; Albert Barnes; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871); Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on Jeremiah and Lamentations; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765) and Matthew Henry.
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