Jeremiah Imprisoned

¹¹ Now it happened when the army of the Chaldeans departed from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s [approaching] army, ¹² that Jeremiah left Jerusalem [during the withdrawal of the Chaldean invaders] to go to [Anathoth, his hometown, in] the land of Benjamin to take possession of [the title to] the land [which he had purchased] there among the people.^{(A) 13} When he was at the Gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah the son of Hananiah was there; and he seized and arrested Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are deserting to join the Chaldeans [of Babylon]!” ¹⁴ But Jeremiah said, “That is a lie! I am not deserting to join the Chaldeans.” But the guard would not listen to him. So Irijah took Jeremiah and brought him to the princes (court officials). ¹⁵ The princes were enraged with Jeremiah and beat him and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe—for they had made that the prison. ¹⁶ When Jeremiah had come into ^[a]the vaulted cell in the dungeon and had remained there many days,