Jeremiah 26:19

19 Whether Hezekiah, king of Judah, and all Judah condemned him by death? Whether they dreaded not the Lord, and besought the face of the Lord? and it repented the Lord of the evil which he spake against them. Therefore do we not great evil against our souls. (Did Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and all Judah condemn him to death? Rather, did they not fear the Lord, and besought the face of the Lord? and then the Lord repented for the evil which he spoke against them. And so let us not do this great evil against ourselves.)

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 Therefore men of the elder men of the land rose up, and said to all the company of the people, and spake, (And so some of the elders of the land rose up, and spoke to all the company of the people, and said,)
18 Micah of Moresheth was a prophet in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah; and he said to all the people of Judah, saying, The Lord of hosts saith these things, Zion shall be eared as a field, and Jerusalem shall be into an heap of stones, and the hill of the house of the Lord shall be into high things of woods. (Micah of Moresheth was a prophet in the days of Hezekiah, the king of Judah; and he said to all the people of Judah, saying, The Lord of hosts saith these things, Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem shall become a heap of stones, and the hill of the House of the Lord shall become the high places of a forest.)
19 Whether Hezekiah, king of Judah, and all Judah condemned him by death? Whether they dreaded not the Lord, and besought the face of the Lord? and it repented the Lord of the evil which he spake against them. Therefore do we not great evil against our souls. (Did Hezekiah, the king of Judah, and all Judah condemn him to death? Rather, did they not fear the Lord, and besought the face of the Lord? and then the Lord repented for the evil which he spoke against them. And so let us not do this great evil against ourselves.)
20 Also Urijah, the son of Shemaiah, of Kiriathjearim, was a man prophesying in the name of the Lord; and he prophesied against this city, and against this land, by all the words of Jeremy (with words like those of Jeremiah).
21 And king Jehoiakim, and all the mighty men, and princes of them (and their leaders), heard these words; and the king sought to slay him; and Urijah heard, and dreaded, and he fled, and entered into Egypt.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.