Jeremiah 37
Living Bible
37 Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, did not appoint Coniah (King Jehoiakim’s son) to be the new king of Judah.[a] Instead he chose Zedekiah (son of Josiah). 2 But neither King Zedekiah nor his officials nor the people who were left in the land listened to what the Lord said through Jeremiah. 3 Nevertheless, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal (son of Shelemiah) and Zephaniah the priest (son of Maaseiah) to ask Jeremiah to pray for them. 4 (Jeremiah had not been imprisoned yet, so he could come and go as he pleased.)
5 When the army of Pharaoh Hophra of Egypt appeared at the southern border of Judah to relieve the besieged city of Jerusalem, the Babylonian army withdrew from Jerusalem to fight the Egyptians.
6 Then the Lord sent this message to Jeremiah: 7 “The Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to ask me what is going to happen, that Pharaoh’s army, though it came here to help you, is about to return in flight to Egypt! The Babylonians shall defeat them and send them scurrying home. 8 These Babylonians shall capture this city and burn it to the ground. 9 Don’t fool yourselves that the Babylonians are gone for good. They aren’t! 10 Even if you destroyed the entire Babylonian army until there was only a handful of survivors and they lay wounded in their tents, yet they would stagger out and defeat you and put this city to the torch!”
11 When the Babylonian army set out from Jerusalem to engage Pharaoh’s army in battle, 12 Jeremiah started to leave the city to go to the land of Benjamin, to see the property he had bought.[b] 13 But as he was walking through the Benjamin Gate, a sentry arrested him as a traitor, claiming he was defecting to the Babylonians. The guard making the arrest was Irijah (son of Shelemiah, grandson of Hananiah).
14 “That’s not true,” Jeremiah said. “I have no intention whatever of doing any such thing!”
But Irijah wouldn’t listen; he took Jeremiah before the city officials. 15-16 They were incensed with Jeremiah and had him flogged and put into the dungeon under the house of Jonathan the scribe, which had been converted into a prison. Jeremiah was kept there for several days, 17 but eventually King Zedekiah sent for him to come to the palace secretly. The king asked him if there was any recent message from the Lord. “Yes,” said Jeremiah, “there is! You shall be defeated by the king of Babylon!”
18 Then Jeremiah broached the subject of his imprisonment. “What have I ever done to deserve this?” he asked the king. “What crime have I committed? Tell me what I have done against you or your officials or the people? 19 Where are those prophets now who told you that the king of Babylon would not come? 20 Listen, O my lord the king: I beg you, don’t send me back to that dungeon, for I’ll die there.”
21 Then King Zedekiah commanded that Jeremiah not be returned to the dungeon but be placed in the palace prison instead, and that he be given a small loaf of fresh bread every day as long as there was any left in the city. So Jeremiah was kept in the palace prison.[c]
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 37:1 to be the new king of Judah. The people of Jerusalem who had assassinated King Jehoiakim appointed his son Coniah as ruler before Nebuchadnezzar captured the city. The Babylonians took Coniah to Babylon as a political hostage.
- Jeremiah 37:12 he had bought, see 32:6-15.
- Jeremiah 37:21 in the palace prison, literally, “in the court of the guard.”
Jeremiah 37
Legacy Standard Bible
Jeremiah Warns Against Trust in Pharaoh
37 Now (A)Zedekiah the son of Josiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had (B)made king in the land of Judah, reigned as king in place of (C)Coniah the son of Jehoiakim. 2 But (D)neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of Yahweh which He spoke through Jeremiah the prophet.
3 Yet (E)King Zedekiah sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and (F)Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “(G)Please pray to Yahweh our God on our behalf.” 4 Now Jeremiah was still coming in and going out among the people; they had not yet (H)put him in the prison. 5 Meanwhile, (I)Pharaoh’s military force had come out from Egypt; and the Chaldeans who had been besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them. So they (J)withdrew from Jerusalem.
6 Then the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, 7 “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘(K)Thus you are to say to the king of Judah, who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: “Behold, (L)the military force of Pharaoh which has come out for your assistance is going to return to its own land of Egypt. 8 The Chaldeans will also (M)return and fight against this city, and they will capture it and burn it with fire.”’ 9 Thus says Yahweh, ‘Do not (N)deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely go away from us,” for they will not go. 10 For (O)even if you had struck down the entire military force of the Chaldeans who were fighting against you, and there were only wounded men remaining among them, each man in his tent, they would rise up and (P)burn this city with fire.’”
Jeremiah Imprisoned
11 Now it happened when the military force of the Chaldeans had withdrawn from Jerusalem because of the military force of Pharaoh, 12 that Jeremiah went out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin in order to (Q)obtain his portion of some property there among the people. 13 Now it happened that while he was at the (R)Gate of Benjamin, the master of the guard whose name was Irijah the son of Shelemiah the son of Hananiah was there; and he (S)seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are [a]going over to the Chaldeans!” 14 But Jeremiah said, “(T)A lie! I am not [b]going over to the Chaldeans”; yet he would not listen to him. So Irijah seized Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. 15 Then the officials were (U)angry at Jeremiah and struck him, and they (V)put him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe because they had made that house into the prison. 16 For Jeremiah had come into the [c](W)pit, that is, the vaulted cell; and Jeremiah stayed there many days.
17 Then King Zedekiah sent and took him out; and in his palace the king (X)secretly asked him and said, “Is there a (Y)word from Yahweh?” And Jeremiah said, “There is!” Then he said, “You will be (Z)given into the hand of the king of Babylon!” 18 Moreover, Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “(AA)In what way have I sinned against you or against your servants or against this people, that you have put me in prison? 19 (AB)Where then are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The (AC)king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land’? 20 But now, please listen, O my lord the king; please let my (AD)supplication [d]come before you, and do not make me return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, that I may not die there.” 21 Then King Zedekiah gave commandment, and they committed Jeremiah to the (AE)court of the guard and gave him a loaf of (AF)bread daily from the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city had (AG)come to an end. So Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 37:13 Lit falling
- Jeremiah 37:14 Lit falling
- Jeremiah 37:16 Lit house of the pit
- Jeremiah 37:20 Lit fall
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