¹⁵ The Lord had given the following message to Jeremiah while he was still in prison:

⁹ And because I preach this Good News, I am suffering and have been chained like a criminal. But the word of God cannot be chained.

¹⁴ sent messengers to bring Jeremiah out of the prison. They put him under the care of Gedaliah son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, who took him back to his home. So Jeremiah stayed in Judah among his own people.

²¹ So King Zedekiah commanded that Jeremiah not be returned to the dungeon. Instead, he was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace. The king also commanded that Jeremiah be given a loaf of fresh bread every day as long as there was any left in the city. So Jeremiah was put in the palace prison.

Baruch Reads the Lord’s Messages

36 During the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was king in Judah,^[a] the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah: ² “Get a scroll, and write down all my messages against Israel, Judah, and the other nations. Begin with the first message back in the days of Josiah, and write down every message, right up to the present time. ³ Perhaps the people of Judah will repent when they hear again all the terrible things I have planned for them. Then I will be able to forgive their sins and wrongdoings.”

⁴ So Jeremiah sent for Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated all the prophecies that the Lord had given him, Baruch wrote them on a scroll. ⁵ Then Jeremiah said to Baruch, “I am a prisoner here and unable to go to the Temple.

Jeremiah’s Land Purchase

32 The following message came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of the reign of Zedekiah,^[a] king of Judah. This was also the eighteenth year of the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar.^{[b] 2} Jerusalem was then under siege from the Babylonian army, and Jeremiah was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace.