¹¹ After the Babylonian army had withdrawn^(A) from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army, ¹² Jeremiah started to leave the city to go to the territory of Benjamin to get his share of the property^(B) among the people there. ¹³ But when he reached the Benjamin Gate,^(C) the captain of the guard, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, arrested him and said, “You are deserting to the Babylonians!”^(D)

¹⁴ “That’s not true!” Jeremiah said. “I am not deserting to the Babylonians.” But Irijah would not listen to him; instead, he arrested^(E) Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. ¹⁵ They were angry with Jeremiah and had him beaten^(F) and imprisoned^(G) in the house^(H) of Jonathan the secretary, which they had made into a prison.

¹⁶ Jeremiah was put into a vaulted cell in a dungeon, where he remained a long time. ¹⁷ Then King Zedekiah sent^(I) for him and had him brought to the palace, where he asked^(J) him privately,^(K) “Is there any word from the Lord?”

“Yes,” Jeremiah replied, “you will be delivered^(L) into the hands of the king of Babylon.”

⁴ Then the officials^(A) said to the king, “This man should be put to death.^(B) He is discouraging^(C) the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin.”

⁵ “He is in your hands,”^(D) King Zedekiah answered. “The king can do nothing^(E) to oppose you.”

⁶ So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard.^(F) They lowered Jeremiah by ropes^(G) into the cistern; it had no water in it,^(H) only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.^(I)

Zedekiah Questions Jeremiah Again

¹⁴ Then King Zedekiah sent^(A) for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to the third entrance to the temple of the Lord. “I am going to ask you something,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Do not hide^(B) anything from me.”

¹⁵ Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I give you an answer, will you not kill me? Even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me.”

¹⁶ But King Zedekiah swore this oath secretly^(C) to Jeremiah: “As surely as the Lord lives, who has given us breath,^(D) I will neither kill you nor hand you over to those who want to kill you.”^(E)

¹⁷ Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender^(F) to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned down; you and your family will live.^{(G) 18} But if you will not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be given into the hands^(H) of the Babylonians and they will burn^(I) it down; you yourself will not escape^(J) from them.’”