Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Today's reading covers three separate instances where Jeremiah has run-ins with local leadership.

The first story may have felt familiar to you.

God sends Jeremiah to prophesied to the people entering the temple.

This feels a lot like what happened back in Chapter 7, and no one really knows if it's happened again, or if it's just being repeated here in this trio of examples of Jeremiah's

struggle with the authorities.

I'm inclined to think that it's the same story we read in chapter 7, mostly

because God indicates that the people might repent, which sounds pretty different than what he's

been saying lately. If it is the same incident, we get a few more details during this version of

events. After Jeremiah's message, the priests and the prophets and all the people arrest him. In his trial, they accuse him

of treason and false prophecy, offenses against both the political and religious groups. According to

Deuteronomy 18, the penalty for a false prophet is death. They want him dead. One thing worth noting

is that when they're making their charge against him,

they conveniently leave out the part where God says he will relent of the destruction if they repent.

But the people either hadn't listened closely to what Jeremiah said, or they tweaked it so they

could accuse him. When Jeremiah is confronted with their false accusations, he clarifies the

rebuke they've misquoted,

but he does it with humble confidence, submitted to their authority. And he can do that

only because he knows the greater authority they will answer to in regard to whatever they

decide to do with him. He trusts God, regardless of the outcome. After hearing Jeremiah's side of the story, they acquit him.

The people still want to kill him and his life is still in danger, but his life is spared by

A Heikim, the son of Shafin. Shafin, by the way, was the scribe who found the scroll in the temple

...