Jeremiah 37
37
1Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon replaced Jehoiachin#37:1. “Jehoiachin”: here called “Coniah.” son of Jehoiakim with Zedekiah son of Josiah as the ruling king of Judah. 2But Zedekiah and his officers and everyone else in the country refused to obey what the Lord had said through Jeremiah the prophet.
3However, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal#37:3. Or “Jucal.” Jeremiah 38:1. son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the priest, son of Maaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet with the message, “Please pray to the Lord our God for us!”
4(At this time Jeremiah could come and go freely, because as yet they hadn't put him in prison.)
5Pharaoh's army was advancing from Egypt, and when the Babylonian army heard about it, they moved away from Jerusalem.
6Then a message from the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet: 7This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, instructs you to tell the king of Judah, who sent you to ask me for help: Look! Pharaoh's army, which set out to help you, is going to return home to Egypt. 8Then the Babylonians will return and attack Jerusalem. They will capture it and burn it down.
9This is what the Lord says: Don't fool yourselves by saying, “The Babylonians are gone for good,” because they're not! 10In fact, even if you were able to kill the whole Babylonian army attacking you, leaving only wounded men in their tents, they would still get up and burn this city down.
11When the Babylonian army moved away from Jerusalem because of the threat of Pharaoh's army, 12Jeremiah was on his way out of Jerusalem to go to his home in the territory of Benjamin to claim his share of his family's property. 13However, when he reached the Benjamin Gate, the guard captain, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, arrested him, saying, “You're defecting to the Babylonians!”
14“That's not true,” Jeremiah replied. “I'm not defecting to the Babylonians!”
But Irijah refused to listen to him. He arrested Jeremiah and took him before the officers.#37:14. Probably the same officers mentioned in verse 2. 15The officers were furious with Jeremiah. They had him beaten and locked up in the house of Jonathan the scribe, which had been turned into a prison. 16Jeremiah was placed in a cell in the underground dungeon and was kept there for a long time.
17Some while later King Zedekiah secretly sent for him and had him brought to the royal palace where he asked, “Is there a message from the Lord for me?”
“Yes there is,” Jeremiah replied. “You are going to be handed over to the king of Babylon.”
18Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah, “What wrong have I done to you or your servants or these people, for you to put me in prison? 19Where are your prophets now, the ones who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon won't come and attack you and this country’? 20Now please listen to me, my lord the king, and respond positively to my request. Don't send me back to prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe, otherwise I'll die there.”
21King Zedekiah gave the order for Jeremiah to be held in the guard's courtyard and be provided with a loaf of bread every day from a bakery until there was no bread left in the city. So Jeremiah stayed in the guard's courtyard.
Currently Selected:
Jeremiah 37: FBV
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com
Jeremiah 37
37
1 And then king Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, reigned in place of Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim. For Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, appointed him as king in the land of Judah.
2 And neither he himself, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, obeyed the words of the Lord, which he spoke by the hand of Jeremiah, the prophet.
3 And king Zedekiah sent Jehucal, the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying: "Pray to the Lord our God for us."
4 Now Jeremiah was walking freely in the midst of the people. For they had not yet sent him into the custody of the prison. And then the army of Pharaoh went forth from Egypt. And hearing this, the Chaldeans, who were besieging Jerusalem, withdrew from Jerusalem.
5 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, saying:
6 "Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: So shall you say to the king of Judah, who sent you to question me: Behold, the army of Pharaoh, which has gone forth in assistance to you, will return to their own land, into Egypt.
7 And the Chaldeans will return and will make war against this city. And they will seize it and burn it with fire.
8 Thus says the Lord: Do not be willing to deceive your own souls, saying: 'The Chaldeans will certainly withdraw and go away from us.' For they will not go away.
9 But even if you were to strike down the entire army of the Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and if there were left behind from among them only a few wounded men, they would rise up, each one from his tent, and they would burn this city with fire."
10 Therefore, when the army of the Chaldeans had withdrawn from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh's army,
11 Jeremiah went forth from Jerusalem, to go into the land of Benjamin, and to distribute a possession there, in the sight of the citizens.
12 And when he had arrived at the gate of Benjamin, the keeper of the gate, whose turn it was to be there, was named Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah. And he apprehended Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "You are fleeing to the Chaldeans."
13 And Jeremiah responded: "That is false. I am not fleeing to the Chaldeans." But he did not listen to him. And so Irijah took Jeremiah, and he brought him to the leaders.
14 Therefore, the leaders were angry with Jeremiah, and so they beat him and sent him to the prison that was in the house of Jonathan, the scribe. For he was the chief over the prison.
15 And so Jeremiah went into the house of the prison and into a dungeon. And Jeremiah sat there for many days.
16 Then Zedekiah the king, sending, took him out and questioned him secretly in his house, and he said: "Do you think that there is any word from the Lord?" And Jeremiah said: "There is." And he said: "You will be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon."
17 And Jeremiah said to king Zedekiah: "How have I sinned against you, or your servants, or your people, such that you would cast me into a house of imprisonment?
18 Where are your prophets, who were prophesying to you, and who were saying: 'The king of Babylon will not overwhelm you and this land?'
19 Now therefore, listen, I beg you, my lord the king. Let my petition prevail in your sight. And do not send me back into the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there."
20 Then king Zedekiah instructed that Jeremiah be confined to the vestibule of the prison, and that they should give him a twist of bread daily, along with stew, until all the bread in the city had been consumed. And Jeremiah remained at the entrance of the prison.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in