And the priests and the prophets spoke to the princes and all the people, saying, “This man deserves to die! For he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Then spoke the priests and the prophets to the princes and to all the people, saying, “This man is worthy of death; for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.”
- KJV Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.
- BSB Then the priests and prophets said to the officials and all the people, “This man is worthy of death, for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears!”
- NASB 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!”
- NLT The priests and prophets presented their accusations to the officials and the people. “This man should die!” they said. “You have heard with your own ears what a traitor he is, for he has prophesied against this city.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The priests and prophets formally accuse Jeremiah of a capital crime for prophesying against Jerusalem. They press the case for his execution.
Overview
The religious leaders act as prosecutors, framing faithful prophecy as treasonous speech against the city. Their charge assumes God would never threaten His own temple, the very presumption Jeremiah condemned. They appeal to the crowd's emotions ('as you have heard with your ears') rather than to truth. This false accusation foreshadows the charges leveled against Jesus and Stephen for words spoken about the temple (Mark 14:58; Acts 6:13).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Jer 38:4Then the princes said to the king, “Please let this man be put to death; because he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them: for this man doesn’t seek the welfare of this people, but harm.”
- Matt 26:66What do you think?” They answered, “He is worthy of death!”
- Deut 18:20But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.”
- Acts 6:11–14Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”
- Acts 25:2–13Then the high priest and the principal men of the Jews informed him against Paul, and they begged him,
- Jer 18:23Yet, Yahweh, you know all their counsel against me to kill me. Don’t forgive their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from your sight; but let them be overthrown before you. Deal you with them in the time of your anger.
- John 19:7The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”
- John 18:30They answered him, “If this man weren’t an evildoer, we wouldn’t have delivered him up to you.”
- Luke 23:1–5The whole company of them rose up and brought him before Pilate.
- Acts 24:4–9But, that I don’t delay you, I entreat you to bear with us and hear a few words.
- Acts 22:22They listened to him until he said that; then they lifted up their voice, and said, “Rid the earth of this fellow, for he isn’t fit to live!”
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 26:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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