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Person Old Testament

Shemaiah

Shemaiah, a prophet from Kiriath-jearim who prophesied against Jerusalem during Jehoiakim's reign. Mentioned once in Scripture, at Jeremiah 26:20.

Why it matters. Prophet from Kiriath-jearim

Primary passages
Last reviewed
2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team

About Shemaiah

Shemaiah was a prophet from Kiriath-jearim who lived during the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah. According to Jer.26.20, Shemaiah prophesied against Jerusalem and the land of Judah, speaking words similar to those of Jeremiah. However, when King Jehoiakim and the officials heard his words, they sought to put him to death. Fearing for his life, Shemaiah fled to Egypt. This incident is mentioned in the context of Jeremiah's own persecution for his prophetic messages, highlighting the dangers faced by prophets who spoke out against the prevailing powers and attitudes of their time.

Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.

Connections

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Family

Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.

Children
Uriah

Appears in Scripture

Named in 1 verse across 1 book. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.

Record type: Person. FaithGraph explanations on this page are editorial and are not Scripture.