Jeremiah 37
37
King Zedekiah Asks Jeremiah To Pray
1 #
2 K 24.17; 2 Ch 36.10. King Nebuchadnezzar#37.1 Nebuchadnezzar: See the note at 21.2. of Babylonia had removed Jehoiachin#37.1 Jehoiachin: Hebrew “Coniah” (see the note at 22.24). son of Jehoiakim#37.1 Jehoiakim: See the note at 1.3. from being the king of Judah and had made Josiah's#37.1 Josiah's: Josiah was the father of both Jehoiakim and Zedekiah. Josiah ruled 640–609 b.c. son Zedekiah#37.1 Zedekiah: See the note at 1.3. king instead.#37.1 King Nebuchadnezzar … instead: See 2 Kings 24.10-17. 2But Zedekiah, his officials, and everyone else in Judah ignored everything the Lord had told me.
3-5Later, the Babylonian army attacked Jerusalem, but they left after learning that the Egyptian army#37.3-5 Egyptian army: Led by King Apries, also known as Hophra. was headed in this direction.
One day, Zedekiah sent Jehucal and the priest Zephaniah#37.3-5 Jehucal and the priest Zephaniah: Hebrew “Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah.” to talk with me. At that time, I was free to go wherever I wanted, because I had not yet been put in prison. Jehucal and Zephaniah said, “Jeremiah, please pray to the Lord our God for us.”
6-7Then the Lord told me to send them back to Zedekiah with this message:
Zedekiah, you wanted Jeremiah to ask me, the Lord God of Israel, what is going to happen. So I will tell you. The king of Egypt and his army came to your rescue, but soon they will go back to Egypt. 8Then the Babylonians will return and attack Jerusalem, and this time they will capture the city and set it on fire. 9Don't fool yourselves into thinking that the Babylonians will leave as they did before. 10Even if you could defeat their entire army, their wounded survivors would still be able to leave their tents and set Jerusalem on fire.
Jeremiah Is Put in Prison
11The Babylonian army had left because the Egyptian army was on its way to help us. 12So I decided to leave Jerusalem and go to the territory of the Benjamin tribe to claim my share of my family's land. 13I was leaving Jerusalem through Benjamin Gate, when I was stopped by Irijah,#37.13 Irijah: Hebrew “Irijah son of Shelemiah and grandson of Hananiah.” the officer in charge of the soldiers at the gate. He said, “Jeremiah, you're under arrest for trying to join the Babylonians.”
14“I'm not trying to join them!” I answered. But Irijah wouldn't listen, and he took me to the king's officials. 15-16They were angry and ordered the soldiers to beat me. Then I was taken to the house that belonged to Jonathan, one of the king's officials. It had been turned into a prison, and I was kept in a basement room.
After I had spent a long time there, 17King Zedekiah secretly had me brought to his palace, where he asked, “Is there any message for us from the Lord?”
“Yes, there is, Your Majesty,” I replied. “The Lord is going to let the king of Babylonia capture you.”
18Then I continued, “Your Majesty, why have you put me in prison? Have I committed a crime against you or your officials or the nation? 19Have you locked up the prophets who lied to you and said that the king of Babylonia would never attack Jerusalem? 20Please, don't send me back to that prison at Jonathan's house. If you do, I will die there.”
21King Zedekiah had me taken to the prison cells in the courtyard of the palace guards. He told the soldiers to give me a loaf of bread#37.21 a loaf of bread: Bread was the main food of the Israelites. During this time of emergency in Jerusalem, everyone probably received the same amount each day. from one of the bakeries every day until the city ran out of grain.
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Jeremiah 37: CEVDCI
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 37
37
Zedekiah’s Vain Hope
1Now King #2 Kin. 24:17; 1 Chr. 3:15; 2 Chr. 36:10; Jer. 22:24Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. 2#2 Kin. 24:19, 20; 2 Chr. 36:12–16; (Prov. 29:12)But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land gave heed to the words of the Lord which He spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.
3And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and #Jer. 21:1, 2; 29:25; 52:24Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, #1 Kin. 13:6; Jer. 42:2; Acts 8:24“Pray now to the Lord our God for us.” 4Now Jeremiah was coming and going among the people, for they had not yet put him in prison. 5Then #2 Kin. 24:7; Jer. 37:7; Ezek. 17:15Pharaoh’s army came up from Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they departed from Jerusalem.
6Then the word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, 7“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Thus you shall say to the king of Judah, #Is. 36:6; Jer. 21:2; Ezek. 17:17who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: “Behold, Pharaoh’s army which has come up to help you will return to Egypt, to their own land. 8#2 Chr. 36:19; Jer. 34:22And the Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city, and take it and burn it with fire.” ’ 9Thus says the Lord: ‘Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely depart from us,” for they will not depart. 10#Lev. 26:36–38; Is. 30:17; Jer. 21:4, 5For though you had defeated the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained only wounded men among them, they would rise up, every man in his tent, and burn the city with fire.’ ”
Jeremiah Imprisoned
11And it happened, when the army of the Chaldeans left the siege of Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s army, 12that Jeremiah went out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to claim his property there among the people. 13And when he was in the Gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard was there whose name was Irijah the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are defecting to the Chaldeans!”
14Then Jeremiah said, “False! I am not defecting to the Chaldeans.” But he did not listen to him.
So Irijah seized Jeremiah and brought him to the princes. 15Therefore the princes were angry with Jeremiah, and they struck him #Jer. 20:2; (Matt. 21:35)and put him in prison in the #Gen. 39:20; 2 Chr. 16:10; 18:26; Jer. 38:26; Acts 5:18house of Jonathan the scribe. For they had made that the prison.
16When Jeremiah entered #Jer. 38:6the dungeon and the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days, 17then Zedekiah the king sent and took him out. The king asked him secretly in his house, and said, “Is there any word from the Lord?”
And Jeremiah said, “There is.” Then he said, “You shall be #2 Kin. 25:4–7; Jer. 21:7; Ezek. 12:12, 13; 17:19–21delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon!”
18Moreover Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “What offense have I committed against you, against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison? 19Where now are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land’? 20Therefore please hear now, O my lord the king. Please, let my petition be accepted before you, and do not make me return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.”
21Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah #Jer. 32:2; 38:13, 28to the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread from the bakers’ street, #2 Kin. 25:3; Jer. 38:9; 52:6until all the bread in the city was gone. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.