Jeremiah 37:1-21
37 And Sidkijah the son of Josiah became king in place of Coniah the son of Jehojakim, he whom King Nebucadressar of Babylon made king in the country of Judah.
2 And he and his officers and the populace did not listen to Jehovah’s words which he pronounced through the prophet Jeremiah.
3 * And King Sidkijah sent Jucal the son of Shelemiah and Priest Sephaniah the son of Ma’asejah to the prophet Jeremiah with the message “Pray for us to our God Jehovah”
4 when Jeremiah was going in and out among the people—they had not put him in jail—
5 and the Pharaoh’s forces had come out of Egypt and the Chaldeans that were besieging Jerusalem had heard the report about them and had raised the siege of Jerusalem.
6 * And Jehovah’s word came to the prophet Jeremiah
7 “Says Israel’s God Jehovah, You are to say to the king of Judah who has sent you to inquire of me, ‘Here the Pharaoh’s forces that have come out for your help are going back to their own country Egypt,
8 and the Chaldeans will come back and attack this city and burn it down.
9 Says Jehovah, Do not delude yourselves with “The Chaldeans are going to withdraw,” for they will not.
10 For if you were to have cut down all the Chaldean forces that are attacking you, and what were left were some men that had been run through, they would stand up in their tents and burn this city down.’”
11 And while the Chaldean forces were withdrawn from before Jerusalem on account of the Pharaoh’s forces
12 Jeremiah was going out of Jerusalem to go to the Benjamite country to take a share among the people there;
13 * and when he came to the Benjamin gate, there being an official in charge there named Irijah the son of Shelemiah the son of Hananiah, he arrested the prophet Jeremiah, saying “You are deserting to the Chaldeans.”
14 And Jeremiah said “It is a lie; I am not deserting to the Chaldeans”; but he did not listen to him.
And Irijah arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the generals.
15 And the generals were in a rage at Jeremiah and beat him and put him in the house of confinement, Secretary Jehonathan’s house (for they had made that the jail).
16 And Jeremiah came into the cistern-room and the cellars; and Jeremiah remained there a long time.
17 And Sidkijah sent and fetched him, and the king asked him in private in his palace “Is there a word from Jehovah?” And he said “Yes,” and said “You will be given into the hands of the king of Babylon.”
18 And Jeremiah said to King Sidkijah “What sin have I committed against you and your officers and this people, that you have put me in jail?
19 where are your prophets that prophesied to you ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you nor against this country’?
20 Now listen, your majesty: admit my plea and do not send me back to Secretary Jehonathan’s house, or I shall die there.”
21 * And King Sidkijah gave orders, and they committed Jeremiah to the court of the guard, giving him a biscuit a day from the bakers’ street till all the bread in the city was exhausted.And Jeremiah sat in the court of the guard.
Footnotes
^ 37:3 Var. to Jehovah
^ 37:6-7 Var. to Jeremiah “Says Jehovah
^ 37:13 Lit. when he was in the Benjamin gate
^ 37:21 Lit. all the bread was exhausted out of the city
