Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of
speaking
For they let him alone till he had done, either out of reverence of him as a priest and prophet; or they were awed by a secret influence on their minds that they might not disturb him: all that the Lord had commanded [him] to speak unto all the people;
he did as he was ordered, kept back nothing, not fearing the resentment of the people, but fearing God: that the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, took him;
the priests and the prophets were the leading men in this action; they stirred up the people against him, and through their instigation he was seized and laid hold on: saying, thou shall surely die;
signifying that they would bring a charge against him, which they were able to support, and which by the law would be death; unless they meant in the manner of zealots to put him to death themselves, without judge or jury; and which they would have put in execution, had not the princes of the land, or the great sanhedrim, heard of it; and therefore to prevent it came to the temple, as is afterwards related.