300 TRANSLATION, NOTES, AND COMMENTSMESSAGE AND AUDIENCE
This narrative reports that Jeremiah was told by Yahweh to stand in the Temple
courtyard and speak his words to all who had come there to worship. It was an
important occasion when people from outlying areas in Judah would have
been present. Jeremiah was warned not to hold back so much as a word. Yah-
weh said that perhaps those assembled would listen and repent of their evil, in
which case Yahweh would repent of the evil he was planning to do to them.
Jeremiah is to say that if the people do not listen, do not walk according to
covenant demands, or pay heed to the preaching of prophets sent over a con-
siderable period of years, which they have not done, then he will make the
Temple like the Shiloh ruin, and Jerusalem will become a curse word for all
nations.
The priests, prophets, and assembled people heard Jeremiah preach this
message, and when he finished, they seized him and said he must die for in-
dulging in such a broadside attack. They asked him why he dared say such
things in the name of Yahweh, repeating the threatened judgment without ref-
erence to the proviso about people repenting of their evil.
Once the princes in the nearby palace heard the uproar going on, or were
apprised of it by others, they came up straightaway to the Temple and took
their places in the New Gate. A trial was underway. The priests and the proph-
ets called for Jeremiah's death because he had prophesied against Jerusalem.
Turning to the people, who are now listening along with the princes to the
charges, the priests and prophets say that the people have heard these words
with their own ears. Jeremiah is then permitted to speak. Addressing the
princes and the people, he says simply that Yahweh sent him with this word
against Jerusalem and the Temple. Nevertheless, the prediction is not carved
in stone. If the people make good their ways and their doings, Yahweh will re-
pent of the evil that is planned. As far as he himself is concerned, Jeremiah sur-
renders his person to the will of the court. They can do with him what seems
good and right in their eyes. But let those assembled beware. If they put him to
death, they will bring innocent blood on themselves and everyone else in the
city, for Yahweh has truly sent him to speak the words they have just heard.
The princes and the people accept Jeremiah's testimony that he has spoken
true words in the name of Yahweh, and they reject the sentence of death. This
verdict is confirmed by certain elders who stand up and recall a similar proph-
ecy from Micah the Morashtite, who lived during Hezekiah's reign. Micah's
words are quoted. He said that Jerusalem would be plowed as a field. And did
Hezekiah put him to death, they ask? Did he not, rather, fear Yahweh and sup-
plicate him? And did not Yahweh repent of evil, as Jeremiah says he will do
now again? The elders conclude by saying that they and the others have come
dangerously close to bringing great evil upon themselves.
The narrator then cites an incident concerning the Yahweh prophet Uriah,
from Kiriath-jearim. He too prophesied against Jerusalem and Judah in words