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
Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah
1#2Ki 24:17; Jer 22:24And King Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Koniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. 2#2Ki 24:19–20; 2Ch 36:12–16But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the Lord, which He spoke through the prophet Jeremiah.
3#Jer 21:1–2; 1Ki 13:6; Jer 29:25But Zedekiah the king sent Jehukal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “Please pray to the Lord our God for us.”
4#Jer 37:15; 32:2–3Now Jeremiah was still coming in and going out among the people, for they had not yet put him into prison. 5#Eze 17:15; 2Ki 24:7At that time Pharaoh’s army had come out of Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report of them, they departed from Jerusalem.
6Then the word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah, saying: 7#La 4:17; 2Ki 22:18Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Thus you shall say to the king of Judah who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: Pharaoh’s army which has come out to help you shall return to Egypt, to its own land. 8#Jer 38:23; 39:2–8The Chaldeans will come again and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire.
9#Ob 1:3; Mt 24:4–5Thus 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; Isa 30:17For though you had struck the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you and there remained but wounded men among them, yet every man would rise up in his tent and burn this city with fire.
Jeremiah Imprisoned
11Now when the army of the Chaldeans had withdrawn from Jerusalem at the approach of Pharaoh’s army, 12#Jer 1:1Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to take possession of his property there among the people. 13#Jer 38:7; Zec 14:10When 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 falling away to the Chaldeans!”
14#Ps 27:12; 52:1–2But Jeremiah said, “It is false! I am not falling away to the Chaldeans,” but he did not listen to him. So Irijah seized Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. 15#Jer 38:26; Ge 39:20Therefore the officials were wrathful with Jeremiah, and struck him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison.
16#Jer 38:6; 38:10–13For Jeremiah had entered the dungeon, that is, the vaulted cell, and Jeremiah had remained there many days. 17#Jer 21:7; 1Ki 14:1–4Then Zedekiah the king sent and took him out; and 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 delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.”
18#Jn 10:32; Ac 25:8Moreover Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “How have I sinned against you or against your servants or against this people that you have put me in prison? 19#2Ki 3:13; Jer 2:28Where now are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you, nor against this land’? 20#Jer 36:7Therefore now please listen, O my lord the king. Please let my supplication be accepted before you, that you not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.”
21#Jer 38:13; 38:28; 32:2Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison and give him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was finished. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.
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