Jeremiah 37-38

Complete Jewish Bible

37 Tzidkiyahu the son of Yoshiyahu became king, succeeding Koniyahu the son of Y’hoyakim, whom N’vukhadretzar king of Bavel had made king over the land of Y’hudah. ² But neither he, his servants nor the people of the land paid attention to the words of Adonai, which he spoke through the prophet Yirmeyahu.

³ Tzidkiyahu the king sent Y’hukhal the son of Shelemyahu and Tz’fanyahu the son of Ma‘aseiyah, the cohen, to the prophet Yirmeyahu with the message, “Please pray to Adonai our God for us.” ⁴ At that time Yirmeyahu was mixing freely with the people, because they had not yet put him in prison. ⁵ At the same time Pharaoh’s army marched out of Egypt; and when the Kasdim besieging Yerushalayim heard about them, they lifted the siege from Yerushalayim.

⁶ Then this word of Adonai came to the prophet Yirmeyahu: ⁷ “Adonai the God of Isra’el says to tell the king of Y’hudah, who sent you to me to consult me: ‘Pharaoh’s army has marched out to assist you; but they will return to Egypt, to their own country. ⁸ The Kasdim will return, attack this city, capture it and burn it to the ground.’ ⁹ Here is what Adonai says: ‘Don’t deceive yourselves by thinking that the Kasdim must withdraw from you, because they will not withdraw. ¹⁰ Even if you were to strike the entire army of the Kasdim fighting against you, to the degree that only their wounded were left, they would still rise up every man from his tent and burn this city to the ground.’”

¹¹ Then, at the time when the army of the Kasdim had lifted the siege of Yerushalayim out of fear of Pharaoh’s army, ¹² Yirmeyahu left Yerushalayim to go to the territory of Binyamin to receive his share of an inheritance there. He was passing through the crowds ¹³ and had reached the gate leading toward Binyamin when a guard commander there named Yir’iyah the son of Shelemyah, the son of Hananyah, seized Yirmeyahu the prophet, shouting, “You’re deserting to the Kasdim!” ¹⁴ Yirmeyahu answered, “That is a lie! I am not deserting to the Kasdim”; but Yir’iyah wouldn’t listen to him. So he arrested Yirmeyahu and brought him to the officials. ¹⁵ The officials, furious with Yirmeyahu, had him beaten and jailed in the house of Y’honatan the secretary, which had been made over into a prison. ¹⁶ The cistern had been made into a dungeon, and Yirmeyahu was put in one of its cells; there he remained for a long time.

¹⁷ Then Tzidkiyahu the king sent and had him brought; and the king asked him secretly, in his palace, “Is there any word from Adonai?” “There is,” Yirmeyahu said. “You will be handed over to the king of Bavel.” ¹⁸ Yirmeyahu asked King Tzidkiyahu, “In what way have I sinned against you or against your officials or against this people, that has caused you to put me in prison? ¹⁹ Where are your prophets now, the ones who prophesied to you that the king of Bavel wouldn’t attack you or this land? ²⁰ So now, please listen, my lord king! I beg you, approve my request — don’t make me return to the house of Y’honatan the secretary, or I will die there.” ²¹ At that, Tzidkiyahu the king gave the order, at which they committed Yirmeyahu to the guards’ quarters and gave him daily a loaf of bread from the Bakers’ Street, until all the bread in the city had been used up. Thus Yirmeyahu remained in the guards’ quarters.

38 But Sh’fatyah the son of Mattan, G’dalyahu the son of Pash’chur, Yukhal the son of Shelemyahu and Pash’chur the son of Malkiyah heard these words which Yirmeyahu had said to all the people, ² “Here is what Adonai says: whoever remains in this city will die by sword, famine and plague; but whoever leaves and surrenders to the Kasdim will stay alive; his own life will be his only ‘spoils of war,’ but he will stay alive. ³ Adonai says that this city will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Bavel, and he will capture it.” ⁴ The leaders said to the king, “Please let this man be put to death; because by speaking such words to the soldiers left in this city and to all the people, he is demoralizing them. This man is seeking not to benefit this people, but to harm them.” ⁵ Tzidkiyahu the king said, “All right, he is in your hands; for the king can’t prevent you from doing as you please.”

⁶ Then they took Yirmeyahu and threw him into the cistern of Malkiyahu the king’s son, which was in the guards’ quarters; they let down Yirmeyahu into it with ropes. In the pit there was no water, but there was mud; and Yirmeyahu sank into the mud. ⁷ ‘Eved-Melekh the Ethiopian, an officer in the king’s house, heard that they had put Yirmeyahu in the cistern. When the king was sitting at the gate leading toward Binyamin, ⁸ ‘Eved-Melekh left the palace and said to the king, ⁹ “My lord, king! What these men have done to Yirmeyahu the prophet is evil. They have thrown him into the cistern; and he is likely to die there where he is, because of the famine; for there is no more food in the city.” ¹⁰ Then the king ordered ‘Eved-Melekh the Ethiopian, “Take thirty men with you from here, and bring Yirmeyahu the prophet up out of the cistern before he dies.” ¹¹ So ‘Eved-Melekh took the men with him and entered a storeroom under the treasury in the king’s palace, from which he took some old clothes and rags. These he let down with ropes to Yirmeyahu in the cistern. ¹² ‘Eved-Melekh the Ethiopian then said to Yirmeyahu, “Use these old clothes and rags as padding between your armpits and the ropes.” After Yirmeyahu had done this, ¹³ they pulled Yirmeyahu up with the ropes and took him out of the cistern. Yirmeyahu remained in the guards’ quarters.

¹⁴ Tzidkiyahu summoned and had Yirmeyahu brought to him through the third entry in the house of Adonai. Then the king said to Yirmeyahu, “I want to ask you something; don’t hide anything from me.” ¹⁵ Yirmeyahu said to Tzidkiyahu, “If I do say it to you, won’t you have me put to death? And if I give you counsel, you won’t listen to me.” ¹⁶ So Tzidkiyahu swore secretly to Yirmeyahu, “As Adonai lives, who gave us our lives, I will not put you to death; nor will I hand you over to these men who want you put to death.”

¹⁷ Then Yirmeyahu said to Tzidkiyahu, “Here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot, the God of Isra’el, says: ‘If you will go out and surrender to the king of Bavel’s officers, then you will stay alive — this city will not be burned down; and you and your family will live. ¹⁸ But if you will not go out to the king of Bavel’s officers, then this city will be handed over to the Kasdim; they will burn it to the ground; and you will not escape from them.’” ¹⁹ Tzidkiyahu the king said to Yirmeyahu, “I am afraid of the Judeans who deserted to the Kasdim. The Kasdim might hand me over to them, and they would mistreat me.” ²⁰ Yirmeyahu answered, “They won’t hand you over. I beg you, listen to the voice of Adonai concerning what I’m telling you about; then it will go well with you, and you will live. ²¹ But if you refuse to surrender, then this is the word Adonai has shown me: ²² all the women remaining in the king of Y’hudah’s palace will be brought out to the king of Bavel’s officers, and those women will taunt you:

²³ They will bring all your women and children out to the Kasdim, and you will not escape from them. Rather, you will be captured by the king of Bavel, and you will cause this city to be burned to the ground.”

²⁴ Tzidkiyahu said to Yirmeyahu, “Don’t tell anyone what you just said, or you will die. ²⁵ If the officials hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say, ‘Tell us now what you said to the king; don’t hide it from us, or we will put you to death, and also what the king said to you,’ ²⁶ then tell them, ‘I presented my request to the king that he would not make me return to Y’honatan’s house, to die there.’” ²⁷ All the officials did come to Yirmeyahu and asked him, and he told them everything the king had ordered him to say. So they stopped speaking with him, since the matter had not been reported.

²⁸ Yirmeyahu remained in the guards’ quarters until the day Yerushalayim was captured; he was there when Yerushalayim was captured.