14. You must decide what to do with me. Just do whatever you think is right.
15. But if you put me to death, you and everyone else in Jerusalem will be guilty of murdering an innocent man, because everything I preached came from the Lord.
16. The judges and the other people told the priests and prophets, “Since Jeremiah only told us what the Lord our God had said, we don't think he deserves to die.”
17. Then some of the leaders from other towns stepped forward. They told the crowd that
18. years ago when Hezekiah was king of Judah, a prophet named Micah from the town of Moresheth had said:“I, the Lord All-Powerful, sayJerusalem will be ploughed underand left in ruins.Thorns will cover the mountainwhere the templenow stands.”
19. Then the leaders continued:No one put Micah to death for saying that. Instead, King Hezekiah prayed to the Lord with fear and trembling and asked him to have mercy. Then the Lord 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.
20-24. After these leaders finished speaking, an important man named Ahikam son of Shaphan spoke up for me as well. And so, I wasn't handed over to the crowd to be killed.While Jehoiakim was still king of Judah, a man named Uriah son of Shemaiah left his home town of Kiriath-Jearim and came to Jerusalem. Uriah was one of the Lord's prophets, and he was saying the same things about Judah and Jerusalem that I had been saying. And when Jehoiakim and his officials and military officers heard what Uriah said, they tried to arrest him, but he escaped to Egypt. So Jehoiakim sent Elnathan son of Achbor and some other men after Uriah, and they brought him back. Then Jehoiakim had Uriah killed and his body dumped in a common burial pit.