Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 37
37
1And Sovereign Tsiḏqiyahu son of Yoshiyahu reigned instead of Konyahu son of Yehoyaqim, whom Neḇuḵaḏretstsar sovereign of Baḇel set up to reign in the land of Yehuḏah.
2But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land had listened to the words of יהוה which He spoke by the prophet Yirmeyahu.
3And Tsiḏqiyahu the sovereign sent Yehuḵal son of Shelemyah, and the priest, Tsephanyahu son of Ma‛asĕyah, to the prophet Yirmeyahu, saying, “Please pray to יהוה our Elohim for us.”
4Now Yirmeyahu was still coming and going among the people, for they had not yet put him in prison.
5Meanwhile, Pharaoh’s army had set out from Mitsrayim. And when the Kasdim who were besieging Yerushalayim heard news of them, they withdrew from Yerushalayim.
6And the word of יהוה came to Yirmeyahu the prophet, saying,
7“Thus said יהוה the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, ‘Say this to the sovereign of Yehuḏah, who sent you to Me to inquire of Me, “See, Pharaoh’s army which has come up to help you, shall turn back to Mitsrayim, to their own land.
8“And the Kasdim shall return and fight against this city, and take it and burn it with fire.” ’
9“Thus said יהוה, ‘Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Kasdim shall go away from us,” for they do not go.
10For though you had stricken the entire army of the Kasdim who are fighting against you, and there remained only wounded men among them, they would get up, each man in his tent, and burn the city with fire.’ ”
11And it came to be, when the army of the Kasdim left the siege of Yerushalayim for fear of Pharaoh’s army,
12that Yirmeyahu went out of Yerushalayim to go into the land of Binyamin to receive his portion there in the midst of the people.
13And it came to be, as he was in the gate of Binyamin, a master of the guard was there whose name was Yiriyah son of Shelemyah, son of Ḥananyah. And he seized Yirmeyahu the prophet, saying, “You are deserting to the Kasdim!”
14But Yirmeyahu said, “It is a lie! I am not deserting to the Kasdim.” But he did not listen to him, and Yiriyah seized Yirmeyahu and brought him to the heads.
15And the heads were wroth with Yirmeyahu, and struck him and put him in prison in the house of Yehonathan the scribe. For they had made that for a prison.
16When Yirmeyahu had entered into the dungeon and into the cells, then Yirmeyahu remained there many days.
17And Tsiḏqiyahu the sovereign sent and took him out. And the sovereign asked him secretly in his house, and said, “Is there any word from יהוה?” And Yirmeyahu said, “There is.” And he said, “You are given into the hand of the sovereign of Baḇel!”
18And Yirmeyahu said to Tsiḏqiyahu the sovereign, “What have I sinned against you, and against your servants, and against this people, that you have put me into prison?
19“Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The sovereign of Baḇel is not coming against you or against this land?’
20“But now, please hear, O my master the sovereign. Please, let my petition be accepted before you, and do not make me return to the house of Yehonathan the scribe, lest I die there.”
21Tsiḏqiyahu the sovereign then commanded Yirmeyahu to be placed in the court of the guard, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread from the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was gone. So Yirmeyahu remained in the court of the guard.
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Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 37: TS2009
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Copyright© 1993 – 2015 by the Institute for Scripture Research (ISR). All rights reserved.
Jeremiah 37
37
In an Underground Dungeon
1-2King Zedekiah son of Josiah, a puppet king set on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the land of Judah, was now king in place of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim. But neither he nor his officials nor the people themselves paid a bit of attention to the Message God gave by Jeremiah the prophet.
3However, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the priest, son of Maaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “Pray for us—pray hard!—to the Master, our God.”
4-5Jeremiah was still moving about freely among the people in those days. This was before he had been put in jail. Pharaoh’s army was marching up from Egypt. The Chaldeans fighting against Jerusalem heard that the Egyptians were coming and pulled back.
6-10Then Jeremiah the prophet received this Message from God: “I, the God of Israel, want you to give this Message to the king of Judah, who has just sent you to me to find out what he should do. Tell him, ‘Get this: Pharaoh’s army, which is on its way to help you, isn’t going to stick it out. No sooner will they get here than they’ll leave and go home to Egypt. And then the Babylonians will come back and resume their attack, capture this city and burn it to the ground. I, God, am telling you: Don’t kid yourselves, reassuring one another, “The Babylonians will leave in a few days.” I tell you, they aren’t leaving. Why, even if you defeated the entire attacking Chaldean army and all that was left were a few wounded soldiers in their tents, the wounded would still do the job and burn this city to the ground.’”
* * *
11-13When the Chaldean army pulled back from Jerusalem, Jeremiah left Jerusalem to go over to the territory of Benjamin to take care of some personal business. When he got to the Benjamin Gate, the officer on guard there, Irijah son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, grabbed Jeremiah the prophet, accusing him, “You’re deserting to the Chaldeans!”
14-16“That’s a lie,” protested Jeremiah. “I wouldn’t think of deserting to the Chaldeans.”
But Irijah wouldn’t listen to him. He arrested him and took him to the police. The police were furious with Jeremiah. They beat him up and threw him into jail in the house of Jonathan the secretary of state. (They were using the house for a prison cell.) So Jeremiah entered an underground cell in a cistern turned into a dungeon. He stayed there a long time.
17Later King Zedekiah had Jeremiah brought to him. The king questioned him privately, “Is there a Message from God?”
“There certainly is,” said Jeremiah. “You’re going to be turned over to the king of Babylon.”
18-20Jeremiah continued speaking to King Zedekiah: “Can you tell me why you threw me into prison? What crime did I commit against you or your officials or this people? And tell me, whatever has become of your prophets who preached all those sermons saying that the king of Babylon would never attack you or this land? Listen to me, please, my master—my king! Please don’t send me back to that dungeon in the house of Jonathan the secretary. I’ll die there!”
21So King Zedekiah ordered that Jeremiah be assigned to the courtyard of the palace guards. He was given a loaf of bread from Bakers’ Alley every day until all the bread in the city was gone. And that’s where Jeremiah remained—in the courtyard of the palace guards.
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.