“Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.”
My Notes
What Does Jeremiah 26:11 Mean?
"Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears." The religious establishment demands Jeremiah's execution: the PRIESTS and PROPHETS (the people who should have been his allies) accuse him before the political leaders and the public. The charge: he prophesied AGAINST the city. Speaking truth about Jerusalem's coming judgment is treated as a capital crime. The message is conflated with treason.
The phrase "the priests and the prophets" (hakkohanim vehanevi'im) identifies the accusers as RELIGIOUS leaders: not political officials, not foreign enemies, not secular critics. The PRIESTS and PROPHETS want Jeremiah dead. The religious establishment turns on its own. The people closest to God's service are the ones demanding the prophet's blood.
The charge — "he hath prophesied against this city" (ki nibba el ha'ir hazzot — because he prophesied against this city) — treats prophetic truth as treason: Jeremiah's message about Jerusalem's coming destruction is reframed as an attack on the city. The diagnosis is treated as the disease. The doctor who names the illness is accused of causing it.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Have you been accused of causing a problem because you named it?
- 2.What does the RELIGIOUS establishment prosecuting the true prophet teach about institutional corruption?
- 3.How does 'prophesied against this city' reframe uncomfortable truth as attack?
- 4.When has speaking what everyone heard but nobody wanted to accept made you the target?
Devotional
The priests and prophets want Jeremiah dead. His crime: he told the truth about the city. The religious establishment accuses the true prophet of treason because his message was uncomfortable. The diagnosis is treated as the disease. The truth-teller is sentenced for telling truth.
The 'priests and prophets' as accusers is the betrayal that defines Jeremiah's ministry: these should be his PEOPLE. The priests who serve in the Temple, the prophets who claim to speak for God — they should be Jeremiah's allies, his colleagues, his supporters. Instead, they're his prosecutors. The religious establishment has become the prophet's most dangerous enemy.
The 'prophesied against this city' reframes truth as treason: Jeremiah didn't prophesy AGAINST the city in the sense of attacking it. He prophesied about what would happen TO the city because of its sin. The distinction matters — and the establishment deliberately erases it. Speaking truth about consequences is treated as CAUSING the consequences. The prophet who warns of destruction is accused of wanting destruction.
The 'as ye have heard with your ears' is the establishment's appeal to the crowd: they involve the public. 'YOU heard him say it.' The accusation relies on the audience's confirmation. The mob is recruited. The crowd becomes the jury. The popular opinion is wielded as a weapon against the solitary prophet who dared to speak what everyone heard but nobody wanted to accept.
Have you ever been accused of treason for telling the truth — and did the accusation come from the people who should have been your allies?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes, and to all the people,.... The priests and the prophets they…
This man is worthy to die - literally, A sentence of death is to this man, i. e., is his desert.
One would have hoped that such a sermon as that in the foregoing verses, so plain and practical, so rational and…
hath prophesied against this city Cp. Act 6:12 ff.
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture