^{24 Ref} About Shemaiah the Nehelamite.

^{25 Ref} Shemaiah the Nehelamite sent a letter in his name to Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying,

^{26 Ref} The Lord has made you priest in place of Jehoiada the priest, to be an overseer in the house of the Lord for every man who is off his head and is acting as a prophet, to put such men in prison and in chains.

^{27 Ref} So why have you made no protest against Jeremiah of Anathoth, who is acting as a prophet to you?

^{28 Ref} For he has sent to us in Babylon saying, The time will be long: go on building houses and living in them, and planting gardens and using the fruit of them.

^{29 Ref} And Zephaniah the priest made clear to Jeremiah the prophet what was said in the letter, reading it to him.

³⁰ Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, saying,

^{31 Ref} Send to all those who have been taken away, saying, This is what the Lord has said about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has been acting as a prophet to you, and I did not send him, and has made you put your faith in what is false;

^{32 Ref} For this cause the Lord has said, Truly I will send punishment on Shemaiah and on his seed; not a man of his family will have a place among this people, and he will not see the good which I am going to do to my people, says the Lord: because he has said words against the Lord.