Jeremiah 37
37
Zedekiah Calls for Jeremiah
1Zedekiah son of Josiah succeeded Jehoiachin#37:1a Hebrew Coniah, a variant spelling of Jehoiachin. son of Jehoiakim as the king of Judah. He was appointed by King Nebuchadnezzar#37:1b Hebrew Nebuchadrezzar, a variant spelling of Nebuchadnezzar. of Babylon. 2But neither King Zedekiah nor his attendants nor the people who were left in the land listened to what the Lord said through Jeremiah.
3Nevertheless, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the priest, son of Maaseiah, to ask Jeremiah, “Please pray to the Lord our God for us.” 4Jeremiah had not yet been imprisoned, so he could come and go among the people as he pleased.
5At this time the army of Pharaoh Hophra#37:5a Hebrew army of Pharaoh; see 44:30. of Egypt appeared at the southern border of Judah. When the Babylonian#37:5b Or Chaldean; also in 37:10, 11. army heard about it, they withdrew from their siege of Jerusalem.
6Then the Lord gave this message to Jeremiah: 7“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: The king of Judah sent you to ask me what is going to happen. Tell him, ‘Pharaoh’s army is about to return to Egypt, though he came here to help you. 8Then the Babylonians#37:8 Or Chaldeans; also in 37:9, 13. will come back and capture this city and burn it to the ground.’
9“This is what the Lord says: Do not fool yourselves into thinking that the Babylonians are gone for good. They aren’t! 10Even if you were to destroy the entire Babylonian army, leaving only a handful of wounded survivors, they would still stagger from their tents and burn this city to the ground!”
Jeremiah Is Imprisoned
11When the Babylonian army left Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s approaching army, 12Jeremiah started to leave the city on his way to the territory of Benjamin, to claim his share of the property among his relatives there.#37:12 Hebrew to separate from there in the midst of the people. 13But as he was walking through the Benjamin Gate, a sentry arrested him and said, “You are defecting to the Babylonians!” The sentry making the arrest was Irijah son of Shelemiah, grandson of Hananiah.
14“That’s not true!” Jeremiah protested. “I had no intention of doing any such thing.” But Irijah wouldn’t listen, and he took Jeremiah before the officials. 15They were furious with Jeremiah and had him flogged and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the secretary. Jonathan’s house had been converted into a prison. 16Jeremiah was put into a dungeon cell, where he remained for many days.
17Later King Zedekiah secretly requested that Jeremiah come to the palace, where the king asked him, “Do you have any messages from the Lord?”
“Yes, I do!” said Jeremiah. “You will be defeated by the king of Babylon.”
18Then Jeremiah asked the king, “What crime have I committed? What have I done against you, your attendants, or the people that I should be imprisoned like this? 19Where are your prophets now who told you the king of Babylon would not attack you or this land? 20Listen, my lord the king, I beg you. Don’t send me back to the dungeon in the house of Jonathan the secretary, for I will die there.”
21So 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.
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Jeremiah 37: NLT
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Jeremiah 37
37
Zedekiah's Request to Jeremiah
1 #
2 Kgs 24.17; 2 Chr 36.10 King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia made Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah in the place of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim. 2But neither Zedekiah nor his officials nor the people obeyed the message which the LORD had given me.
3King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to ask me to pray to the LORD our God on behalf of our nation. 4I had not yet been put in prison and was still moving about freely among the people. 5The Babylonian army had been besieging Jerusalem, but when they heard that the Egyptian army had crossed the Egyptian border, they retreated.
6Then the LORD, the God of Israel, told me 7to say to Zedekiah, “The Egyptian army is on its way to help you, but it will return home. 8Then the Babylonians will come back, attack the city, capture it, and burn it down. 9I, the LORD, warn you not to deceive yourselves into thinking that the Babylonians will not come back, because they will. 10Even if you defeat the whole Babylonian army, so that only wounded men are left, lying in their tents, those men would still get up and burn this city to the ground.”
Jeremiah is Arrested and Imprisoned
11The Babylonian army retreated from Jerusalem because the Egyptian army was approaching. 12So I started to leave Jerusalem and go to the territory of Benjamin to take possession of my share of the family property. 13But when I reached the Benjamin Gate, the officer in charge of the soldiers on duty there, a man by the name of Irijah, the son of Shelemiah and grandson of Hananiah, stopped me and said, “You are deserting to the Babylonians!”
14I answered, “That's not so! I'm not deserting.” But Irijah would not listen to me. Instead, he arrested me and took me to the officials. 15They were furious with me and ordered me to be beaten and locked up in the house of Jonathan, the court secretary, whose house had been made into a prison. 16I was put in an underground cell and kept there a long time.
17Later on King Zedekiah sent for me, and there in the palace he asked me privately, “Is there any message from the LORD?”
“There is,” I answered, and added, “You will be handed over to the king of Babylonia.” 18Then I asked, “What crime have I committed against you or your officials or this people, to make you put me in prison? 19What happened to your prophets who told you that the king of Babylonia would not attack you or the country? 20And now, Your Majesty, I beg you to listen to me and do what I ask. Please do not send me back to the prison in Jonathan's house. If you do, I will surely die there.”
21So King Zedekiah ordered me to be locked up in the palace courtyard. I stayed there, and each day I was given a loaf of bread from the bakeries until all the bread in the city was gone.
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.