ירמיהו, פרק כ״ו, פסוק י״א

The religious establishment launches a dramatic legal maneuver to silence a dissenting voice that challenges their narrative. The priests and false prophets demand the execution of Jeremiah, appealing to both the political leadership and the general public to secure a conviction.

The core accusation is that Jeremiah delivered warnings of doom and destruction against Jerusalem [מצודת דוד, ביאור שטיינזלץ]. The religious leaders insist on the death penalty because they suspect he invented these warnings himself, making him a false prophet [מצודת דוד]. The false prophets, whose own messages directly contradict Jeremiah's warnings, vehemently deny his legitimacy. They argue that God never sent him and demand that the government ministers execute him according to the strict letter of the law [מלבי״ם].

Although the religious leaders present a united legal front, the crowd's motivations are far more complex. The general public initially gathers out of mere curiosity, and their opinions are deeply divided regarding the prophet [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Furthermore, the people do not necessarily share the priests' legal argument that Jeremiah is a fraud. Instead, those among the public who support his execution are driven by a desire to eliminate the fear and psychological damage caused by his terrifying predictions. They are willing to kill him simply to stop the panic, even if he is actually a true prophet [מלבי״ם].

The prosecution relies on the claim that the audience heard these warnings with their own ears, though the actual experience differs among the groups present. The ordinary citizens heard the harsh prophecies directly from Jeremiah himself, whereas the government ministers only learned of the events through the reports of others who relayed the information to them [מצודת דוד].