Jeremiah 26:19

19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? Did he not fear the LORD and besought the LORD, and the LORD himself repented of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Shall we commit such great evil against our souls?

Jeremiah 26:19 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 26:19

Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to
death?
&c.] No, they did not: neither the king, by his own authority; nor the sanhedrim, the great court of judicature, for the nation; they never sought to take away his life, nor sat in council about it; they never arraigned him, and much less condemned him: did he not fear the Lord, and besought the Lord;
that is, Hezekiah; he did, as knowing that Micah was a prophet of the Lord, and sent by him; wherefore he received his prophecy with great awe and reverence, as coming from the Lord, and made his supplications to him that he would avert the judgments threatened: and the Lord repented of the evil which he had pronounced against
them?
the king and his people, the city and the temple; and so the threatened evil came not upon them in their days: thus might we procure great evil against our souls;
should we put Jeremiah to death: it is therefore much more advisable to do as Hezekiah did, pray unto the Lord to avert the threatened evil, or otherwise it will be worse with us. This precedent is urged to strengthen the decree of the council in favour of Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 26:19 In-Context

17 Then certain of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to all the congregation of the people, saying,
18 Micah the Morasthite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus hath the LORD of the hosts said; Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the temple mount as the high places of a forest.
19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him at all to death? Did he not fear the LORD and besought the LORD, and the LORD himself repented of the evil which he had pronounced against them? Shall we commit such great evil against our souls?
20 There was also a man that prophesied in the name of the LORD, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjathjearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah:
21 And Jehoiakim the king heard his words and all his mighty men and all the princes, and the king sought to put him to death, but when Urijah understood it, he was afraid and fled and went into Egypt.
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010