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
The Babylonians Withdraw to Meet a Threat from Egypt
1And king Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had made king, reigned as king in the land of Judah in place of Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim. 2But he and his servants and the people of the land did not listen to the words of Yahweh that he spoke by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet. 3And king Zedekiah sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying,#Literally “to say” “Please pray for us to Yahweh our God.” 4Now Jeremiah was coming and going out in the midst of the people and they had not put him in the house of imprisonment. 5And the army of Pharaoh had come out from Egypt, and the Chaldeans, who were laying siege to Jerusalem, heard their report and they withdrew from Jerusalem.
6And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the prophet, saying,#Literally “to say” 7“Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘This is what you shall say to the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me, “Look, the army of Pharaoh, which set out to help you, is going to return to his land Egypt. 8And the Chaldeans will return, and they will fight against this city, and they will capture it, and they will burn it with fire.” ’ 9Thus says Yahweh: ‘You must not deceive yourselves, saying,#Literally “to say” “Surely the Chaldeans will go from us,” for they will not go. 10For even if you struck the whole army of the Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and only men pierced through remained among them, each one in his tent, they would rise up and they would burn this city with fire.’ ”
Jeremiah is Arrested and Put in Prison
11And then,#Literally “And it will happen” at the withdrawing of the army of the Chaldeans from Jerusalem before#Literally “from the face of” the army of Pharaoh, 12Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to receive a portion from there in the midst of the people. 13And when#Literally “And it was” he was at the Gate of Benjamin, there was a sentry on duty#Literally “an owner of supervision” whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, and he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying,#Literally “to say” “You are deserting to the Chaldeans!” 14And Jeremiah said, “That is a lie! I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.” But he would not listen to him. So Irijah seized Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. 15And the officials were angry at Jeremiah and they struck him. And they put him in prison,#Literally “the house of the fetters” in the house of Jonathan the secretary, for they had converted it to the prison#Literally “house of the imprisonment”. 16So Jeremiah came to the dungeon#Literally “house of the cistern”, even to the vaulted cells, and Jeremiah stayed there many days.
17Then King Zedekiah sent and fetched him. And the king questioned him in secrecy in his house, and he said, “Is there a word from Yahweh?” And Jeremiah said, “There is.” And he said, “You will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon.”
18Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “What did I do wrong to you, or to your servants, or to this people, that you have put me in prison?#Literally “the house of the imprisonment” 19And where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying,#Literally “to say” ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you and against this land’? 20Now then, my lord the king, please let my plea fall before you.#Literally “to the face of you” You must not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary, so that I will not die there.” 21So King Zedekiah commanded, and they handed Jeremiah over in the courtyard of the guard, and they gave to him a round loaf of bread from the street of the bakers every day#Literally “for the day” until the finishing of all the bread from the city. And Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the guard.
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