Jeremiah 37:1-10

Common English Bible

Jeremiah falsely accused and imprisoned

37 Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar appointed Zedekiah, Josiah’s son, to succeed Coniah, Jehoiakim’s son, as king of Judah. ² Neither Zedekiah, his attendants, nor the people of the land listened to the Lord’s words spoken by the prophet Jeremiah.

³ Nevertheless, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal, Shelemiah’s son, and the priest Zephaniah, Maaseiah’s son, to Jeremiah the prophet with this plea: “Please pray for us to the Lord our God.” (⁴ Now Jeremiah hadn’t been imprisoned yet, so he was free to come and go among the people. ⁵ Pharaoh’s army had recently^[a] set out from Egypt; when the Babylonians who were attacking Jerusalem learned of the Egyptian advance, they withdrew from Jerusalem.)

⁶ Then the Lord’s word came to Jeremiah the prophet: ⁷ The Lord, the God of Israel, proclaims: Tell the king of Judah who sent his emissaries to seek advice from me: “Pharaoh’s army that came to assist you is heading back to Egypt. ⁸ The Babylonians will return and attack this city. They will capture it and burn it down.”

⁹ The Lord proclaims: Don’t let yourself be deceived into thinking that the Babylonians will withdraw for good.^[b] They won’t! ¹⁰ Even if you were to crush the entire Babylonian army that’s attacking you and only the wounded in their tents remained, they would rise up and burn this city down.