Back to Jeremiah 26

Jeremiah 26:2-7

“Yahweh says: ‘Stand in the court of Yahweh’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in Yahweh’s house, all the words that I command you to speak to them. Don’t omit a word. It may be they will listen, and every man turn from his evil way; that I may relent from the evil which I intend to do to them because of the evil of their doings.’ You shall tell them, “Yahweh says: ‘If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you, to listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I send to you, even rising up early and sending them, but you have not listened; then I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.” ’ ”

The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in Yahweh’s house.

World English Bible · Public Domain
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Jeremiah 26:2-7 sits inside this longer paragraph.

In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from Yahweh: “Yahweh says: ‘Stand in the court of Yahweh’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in Yahweh’s house, all the words that I command you to speak to them. Don’t omit a word. It may be they will listen, and every man turn from his evil way; that I may relent from the evil which I intend to do to them because of the evil of their doings.’ You shall tell them, “Yahweh says: ‘If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you, to listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I send to you, even rising up early and sending them, but you have not listened; then I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.” ’ ”

The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in Yahweh’s house. When Jeremiah had finished speaking all that Yahweh had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You shall surely die! Why have you prophesied in Yahweh’s name, saying, ‘This house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be desolate, without inhabitant?’ ” All the people were crowded around Jeremiah in Yahweh’s house.

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Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    “Yahweh says: ‘Stand in the court of Yahweh’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in Yahweh’s house, all the words that I command you to speak to them. Don’t omit a word.

    It may be they will listen, and every man turn from his evil way; that I may relent from the evil which I intend to do to them because of the evil of their doings.’

    You shall tell them, “Yahweh says: ‘If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you,

    to listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I send to you, even rising up early and sending them, but you have not listened;

    then I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.” ’ ”

    The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in Yahweh’s house.

  • KJV King James Version

    Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the court of the LORD’s house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD’s house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word:

    If so be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.

    And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; If ye will not hearken to me, to walk in my law, which I have set before you,

    To hearken to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I sent unto you, both rising up early, and sending them, but ye have not hearkened;

    Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.

    So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD.

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  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    'Thus saith the LORD: Stand in the court of the LORD'S house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the LORD'S house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word.

    It may be they will hearken, and turn every man from his evil way; that I may repent Me of the evil, which I purpose to do unto them because of the evil of their doings.

    And thou shalt say unto them: Thus saith the LORD: If ye will not hearken to Me, to walk in My law, which I have set before you,

    to hearken to the words of My servants the prophets, whom I send unto you, even sending them betimes and often, but ye have not hearkened;

    then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.'

    So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD.

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Cross-references (88)

  • Deuteronomy 4:2 (v2) You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your…
  • Jeremiah 36:3 (v3) It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I intend to do to them; that they may each return from his evil way; that I…
  • Matthew 28:20 (v2) teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
  • Acts 20:27 (v2) for I didn’t shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
  • 2 Kings 22:19 (v6) because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before Yahweh, when you heard what I spoke against this place, and against its…
Show all 88 cross-references
  • Isaiah 1:16-19 (v3) Wash yourselves. Make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do well. Seek…
  • Jeremiah 1:17 (v2) “You therefore put your belt on your waist, arise, and say to them all that I command you. Don’t be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you…
  • Jeremiah 11:7 (v5) For I earnestly protested to your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even to this day, rising early and…
  • Jeremiah 18:7-10 (v3) At the instant I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it; if that nation,…
  • Jeremiah 19:14 (v2) Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where Yahweh had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the court of Yahweh’s house, and said to all the…
  • Jeremiah 24:9 (v6) I will even give them up to be tossed back and forth among all the kingdoms of the earth for evil; to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt…
  • 1 Kings 9:6 (v4) But if you turn away from following me, you or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but…
  • 2 Kings 9:7 (v5) You must strike your master Ahab’s house, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of…
  • Ezra 9:11 (v5) which you have commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land, to which you go to possess it, is an unclean land through the…
  • Isaiah 65:15 (v6) You will leave your name for a curse to my chosen; and the Lord Yahweh will kill you. He will call his servants by another name,
  • Jeremiah 7:2 (v2) “Stand in the gate of Yahweh’s house, and proclaim this word there, and say, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word, all you of Judah, who enter in at these…
  • Jeremiah 7:13 (v5) Now, because you have done all these works,” says Yahweh, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you didn’t hear; and I…
  • Jeremiah 7:25 (v5) Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up…
  • Jeremiah 25:3-4 (v5) From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years, Yahweh’s word has come to…
  • Jeremiah 25:18 (v6) Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, with its kings and its princes, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, a hissing, and a curse, as…
  • Jeremiah 36:7 (v3) It may be they will present their supplication before Yahweh, and will each return from his evil way; for Yahweh has pronounced great anger…
  • Ezekiel 18:27-30 (v3) Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he will save his…
  • Jonah 3:8-10 (v3) but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and animal, and let them cry mightily to God. Yes, let them turn everyone from his evil…
  • Jonah 4:2 (v3) He prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Please, Yahweh, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to…
  • Acts 5:42 (v2) Every day, in the temple and at home, they never stopped teaching and preaching Jesus, the Christ.
  • Acts 20:20 (v2) how I didn’t shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, teaching you publicly and from house to house,
  • Deuteronomy 12:32 (v2) Whatever thing I command you, that you shall observe to do. You shall not add to it, nor take away from it.
  • 1 Samuel 4:10-12 (v6) The Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. There was a very great slaughter; for thirty thousand…
  • 1 Samuel 4:19-22 (v6) His daughter-in-law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, near to giving birth. When she heard the news that God’s ark was taken and that her…
  • 1 Kings 21:27 (v3) When Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly.
  • 1 Kings 21:29 (v3) “See how Ahab humbles himself before me? Because he humbles himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days; but I will bring the…
  • 2 Chronicles 24:20-21 (v2) The Spirit of God came on Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest; and he stood above the people, and said to them, “God says, ‘Why do you…
  • Psalms 78:60-64 (v6) so that he abandoned the tent of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men, and delivered his strength into captivity, his glory into the…
  • Isaiah 1:20 (v4) but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”
  • Isaiah 58:1-2 (v2) “Cry aloud! Don’t spare! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Declare to my people their disobedience, and to the house of Jacob their sins.…
  • Jeremiah 5:31 (v7) The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end…
  • Jeremiah 7:12-14 (v6) “But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of…
  • Jeremiah 23:28 (v2) The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the…
  • Jeremiah 36:10 (v2) Then Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the book in Yahweh’s house, in the room of Gemariah the son of Shaphan, the scribe, in the…
  • Jeremiah 44:10 (v4) They are not humbled even to this day, neither have they feared, nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes, that I set before you and before…
  • Ezekiel 3:10 (v2) Moreover he said to me, “Son of man, receive in your heart and hear with your ears all my words that I speak to you.
  • Ezekiel 38:17 (v5) “ ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Are you he of whom I spoke in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for…
  • Daniel 9:6-10 (v5) We haven’t listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people…
  • Daniel 9:11 (v6) Yes, all Israel have transgressed your law, turning aside, that they should not obey your voice. “Therefore the curse and the oath written…
  • Amos 3:7 (v5) Surely the Lord Yahweh will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.
  • Micah 3:11 (v7) Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on Yahweh,…
  • Zechariah 1:6 (v5) But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, didn’t they overtake your fathers? “Then they repented and said,…
  • John 18:20 (v2) Jesus answered him, “I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues, and in the temple, where the Jews always meet. I said…
  • Revelation 10:7 (v5) but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as he declared to his…
  • Revelation 11:18 (v5) The nations were angry, and your wrath came, as did the time for the dead to be judged, and to give your bondservants the prophets, their…
  • Leviticus 26:14-46 (v4) “ ‘But if you will not listen to me, and will not do all these commandments, and if you shall reject my statutes, and if your soul abhors…
  • Deuteronomy 4:8 (v4) What great nation is there that has statutes and ordinances so righteous as all this law which I set before you today?
  • Deuteronomy 4:44 (v4) This is the law which Moses set before the children of Israel.
  • Deuteronomy 11:32 (v4) You shall observe to do all the statutes and the ordinances which I set before you today.
  • Deuteronomy 28:15-68 (v4) But it shall come to pass, if you will not listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which…
  • Deuteronomy 29:18-28 (v4) lest there should be among you man, woman, family, or tribe whose heart turns away today from Yahweh our God, to go to serve the gods of…
  • Deuteronomy 31:16-18 (v4) Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, you shall sleep with your fathers. This people will rise up and play the prostitute after the strange gods…
  • Deuteronomy 31:20 (v4) For when I have brought them into the land which I swore to their fathers, flowing with milk and honey, and they have eaten and filled…
  • Deuteronomy 32:15-25 (v4) But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and…
  • Joshua 18:1 (v6) The whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled themselves together at Shiloh, and set up the Tent of Meeting there. The land…
  • Joshua 23:15-16 (v4) It shall happen that as all the good things have come on you of which Yahweh your God spoke to you, so Yahweh will bring on you all the…
  • 2 Kings 17:13 (v5) Yet Yahweh testified to Israel, and to Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways, and keep my commandments…
  • 2 Kings 17:23 (v5) until Yahweh removed Israel out of his sight, as he said by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away out of their own land…
  • 2 Kings 24:2 (v5) Yahweh sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon,…
  • 2 Chronicles 7:19-20 (v4) But if you turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and…
  • Nehemiah 9:26-30 (v4) “Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against you, cast your law behind their back, killed your prophets that testified against…
  • Isaiah 42:23-25 (v4) Who is there among you who will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear for the time to come? Who gave Jacob as plunder, and Israel to…
  • Isaiah 43:28 (v6) Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary; and I will make Jacob a curse, and Israel an insult.”
  • Jeremiah 23:11-15 (v7) for both prophet and priest are profane. Yes, in my house I have found their wickedness,” says Yahweh. Therefore their way will be to them…
  • Jeremiah 29:22 (v6) A curse will be taken up about them by all the captives of Judah who are in Babylon, saying, ‘Yahweh make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab,…
  • Jeremiah 42:4 (v2) Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to Yahweh your God according to your words; and it will…
  • Jeremiah 42:18 (v6) For Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘As my anger and my wrath has been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath…
  • Jeremiah 44:8-12 (v6) in that you provoke me to anger with the works of your hands, burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have gone to…
  • Jeremiah 44:22 (v6) Thus Yahweh could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed.…
  • Ezekiel 3:17-21 (v2) “Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word from my mouth, and warn them from me. When I tell…
  • Ezekiel 22:25-26 (v7) There is a conspiracy of her prophets within it, like a roaring lion ravening the prey. They have devoured souls. They take treasure and…
  • Zephaniah 3:4 (v7) Her prophets are arrogant and treacherous people. Her priests have profaned the sanctuary. They have done violence to the law.
  • Malachi 4:6 (v6) He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth…
  • Matthew 21:15 (v7) But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children who were crying in the temple and saying,…
  • Luke 19:47–20:1 (v2) He was teaching daily in the temple, but the chief priests, the scribes, and the leading men among the people sought to destroy him. They…
  • Luke 21:37-38 (v2) Every day Jesus was teaching in the temple, and every night he would go out and spend the night on the mountain that is called Olivet. All…
  • John 8:2 (v2) Now very early in the morning, he came again into the temple, and all the people came to him. He sat down and taught them.
  • Acts 4:1-6 (v7) As they spoke to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came to them, being upset because they taught the…
  • Acts 5:17 (v7) But the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy
  • Acts 5:20-21 (v2) “Go stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.” When they heard this, they entered into the temple about…
  • Acts 5:25 (v2) One came and told them, “Behold, the men whom you put in prison are in the temple, standing and teaching the people.”
  • Hebrews 6:18 (v4) that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to…
  • Revelation 22:19 (v2) If anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, may God take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy…

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

Explain this passage (17 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv2–7 He adds, Thus saith Jehovah, Stand in the court…

He adds, Thus saith Jehovah, Stand in the court of the house (literally, but house means the Temple) of Jehovah It was not allowed the people to enter into the Temple; hence the Prophet was bidden to abide in the court where he might be heard by all. He was, as we have seen, of the priestly order; but it would have been but of little avail to address the Levites. It was therefore necessary for him to go forth and to announce to the whole people the commands of God which are here recited; and he was to do this not only to the citizens of Jerusalem, but also to all the Jews; and this is expressly required, speak to all the cities of Judah; and then it is added, who come to worship in the Temple of Jehovah God seems to have designedly anticipated the presumption of those who thought that wrong was done to them, when they were so severely reproved; “What! we have left our wives and children, and have come here to worship God; we have laid aside every attention to our private advantage, and have come here, though inconveniently; we might have lived quietly at home and enjoyed our blessings; we have incurred great expenses, undertaken a tedious journey, brought sacrifices, and denied ourselves as to our daily food, that God might be worshipped; and yet thou inveighest severely against us, and we hear nothing from thy mouth but terrors; is this right? Does God render such a reward to his servants?”

Thus then they might have contended with the Prophet; but he anticipates these objections, and allows what they might have pleaded, that they came to the Temple to offer sacrifices; but he intimates that another thing was required by God, and that they did not discharge their duties in coming to the Temple, except they faithfully obeyed God and his Law. We now see why the Prophet said, that he was sent to those who came up to Jerusalem to worship God. The deed itself could not indeed have been blamed; nay, it was highly worthy of praise, that they thus frequented the worship of God; but as the Jews regarded not the end for which God had commanded sacrifices to be offered to him, and also the end for which he had instituted all these external rites, it was necessary to remove this error in which they were involved.

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Speak, he says, all the words which I have commanded thee to speak to them The Prophet again confirms, that he was not the author of what he taught, but only a minister, who faithfully announced what God had committed to him; and so the people could not have objected to him by saying, that he brought forward his own devices, for he repelled such a calumny. The false prophets might have also alleged similar things; but Jeremiah had certain evidences as to his calling, that the Jews, by rejecting him, condemned themselves, for their own consciences fully convicted them. But from this passage, and from many like passages, we may draw this conclusion, — that no one, however he may excel in powers of mind, or knowledge, or wisdom, or station, ought to be attended to, except he proves that he is God’s minister.

He afterwards adds, Thou shalt not diminish a word Some read, “Thou shall not restrain,” which is harsh. The verb, גרע, garo, properly means to be lessened and to be consumed. And Moses makes use of the same word in Deuteronomy 12:32, when he says,

“Thou shalt not add, nor diminish,”

in reference to the Law, in which the people were to acquiesce, without corrupting it with any human devices. To diminish then was to take away something from the word. But we ought to consider the reason why this was said to Jeremiah; it never entered the mind of the holy man to adulterate God’s word; but God here encourages him to confidence, so that he might boldly execute his commands. To diminish then something from the word, was to soften what appeared sharp, or to suppress what might have offended, or to express indirectly or coldly what could not produce effect without being forcibly expressed. There is then no doubt but that God anticipates here this evil, under which even faithful teachers in a great measure labor; for when they find the ears of men tender and delicate, they dare not vehemently to reprove, threaten, and condemn their vices. This is the reason why God added this, Diminish not a word; as though he had said, “Declare thou with closed eyes and with boldness whatever thou hast heard from my mouth, and disregard whatever may tend to lessen thy courage.”

We may now easily learn the use of this doctrine; the Prophet was not sent to profane men, who openly avowed their impiety, or lived in gross sins; but he was sent to the very worshippers of God, who highly regarded his external worship, and for this reason had left wives and children, came to the Temple and spared neither labor nor expense. As, then, he was sent to them, we must beware, lest we sleep in our vices and think that we have done our duty to God, when we have apparently given some evidences of piety; for except we really and sincerely obey God, all other things are esteemed of no value by him. It then follows —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 6 That is, in that place of the Temple whereunto…
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv2–7 Jer 26:2 Thus saith the LORD; Stand in the…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv2–7 Stand in the court of the Lord’s house; in…
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v7 One would have hoped that such a sermon as…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–7 Thus saith the Lord, stand in the court of…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v4 Verse 4. If ye will not hearken] This and…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv2, 7 Jer 26:2-3. Stand in the court of the Lord’s…
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 6 Word. This example all pastors should follow, in the…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv3, 5, 6 if so be--expressed according to human conceptions; not as…
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 6, 7 2. Court of the Lord’s house — Probably the…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv2–7 2. the court of the Lord’s house] probably the…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 6, 7 (2) Stand in the court of the Lord’s house.—The…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 6, 7 Jeremiah is to take his stand in the court…
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v3 (See Scofield "Zec 8:14").
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv4, 7 If you do not listen to me so as…
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv2, 3, 4, 7 26:2 Jeremiah stood in the courtyard of the Temple…
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