15. But be sure of one thing. If you kill me, you will be guilty of killing an innocent person. You will make this city and everyone who lives in it guilty, too! The Lord truly sent me to you to give you this message.”
16. Then the officers and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “Jeremiah must not be killed. What he told us comes from the Lord our God.”
17. Then some of the elders of Judah stood up and said to all the people,
18. “Micah, from the city of Moresheth, was a prophet during the time Hezekiah was king of Judah. Micah said to all the people of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord All-Powerful says:Jerusalem will be plowed like a field.It will become a pile of rocks,and the hill where the Temple stands will be covered with bushes.’
19. “Hezekiah king of Judah and the people of Judah did not kill Micah. You know that Hezekiah feared the Lord and tried to please the Lord. So the Lord changed his mind and did not bring on Judah the disaster he had promised. If we hurt Jeremiah, we will bring a terrible disaster on ourselves!”
20. (Now there was another man who prophesied in the name of the Lord. His name was Uriah son of Shemaiah from the city of Kiriath Jearim. He preached the same things against Jerusalem and the land of Judah that Jeremiah did.
21. When King Jehoiakim, all his army officers, and all the leaders of Judah heard Uriah preach, King Jehoiakim wanted to kill Uriah. But Uriah heard about it and was afraid. So he escaped to Egypt.
22. Then King Jehoiakim sent Elnathan son of Acbor and some other men to Egypt,
23. and they brought Uriah back from Egypt. Then they took him to King Jehoiakim, who had Uriah killed with a sword. His body was thrown into the burial place where poor people are buried.)
24. Ahikam son of Shaphan supported Jeremiah. So Ahikam did not hand Jeremiah over to be killed by the people.