Jeremiah 37
37
Jerusalem’s Last Days
1Zedekiah son of Josiah # 2Kg 24:17; 2Ch 36:10 reigned as king in the land of Judah # Ezk 17:12-21 in place of Jehoiachin # = Coniah # Jr 22:24 son of Jehoiakim, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made him king. 2He and his officers and the people of the land did not obey the words of the Lord # 2Ch 36:12-16 that He spoke through Jeremiah the prophet.
3Nevertheless, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal # Jr 38:1 son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah # 2Kg 25:18-21; Jr 21:1; 29:24-29 son of Maaseiah, the priest, to Jeremiah the prophet, requesting, “Please pray to the Lord our God for us! ” 4Jeremiah was going about his daily tasks # Lit was coming in and going out among the people, for they had not yet put him into the prison. # Jr 32:2-3 5Pharaoh’s army had left Egypt, # Ezk 17:15 and when the Chaldeans, who were besieging Jerusalem, heard the report, they withdrew from Jerusalem.
6The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet: 7“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: This is what you will say to Judah’s king, # Jr 21:1-2 who is sending you to inquire of Me: Watch: Pharaoh’s army, which has come out to help you, # Lm 4:17 is going to return to its own land of Egypt. 8The Chaldeans will then return and fight against this city. They will capture it and burn it down. # Jr 21:10; 34:2,22; 38:18 9This is what the Lord says: Don’t deceive yourselves by saying, ‘The Chaldeans will leave us for good,’ for they will not leave. 10Indeed, if you were to strike down the entire Chaldean army that is fighting with you, # Jr 21:4-5 and there remained among them only the badly wounded # Lit the pierced men, each in his tent, they would get up and burn this city down.”
Jeremiah’s Imprisonment
11When the Chaldean army withdrew from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army, 12Jeremiah started to leave Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to claim his portion there # Jr 32:1-15 among the people. 13But when he was at the Benjamin Gate, # Jr 38:7; Zch 14:10 an officer of the guard was there, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, and he apprehended Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are deserting to the Chaldeans.”
14“That’s a lie,” Jeremiah replied. “I am not deserting to the Chaldeans! ” Irijah would not listen to him but apprehended Jeremiah and took him to the officials. 15The officials were angry at Jeremiah and beat him and placed him in jail in the house of Jonathan # Jr 38:26 the scribe, for it had been made into a prison. 16So Jeremiah went into a cell in the dungeon # Gn 40:15; Is 24:22; Zch 9:11 and stayed there many days.
Jeremiah Summoned by Zedekiah
17King Zedekiah later sent for him and received him, and in his house privately asked him, “Is there a word from the Lord? ” # Jr 38:14-16
“There is,” Jeremiah responded, and he continued, “You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.” # Jr 21:7 18Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “How have I sinned against you or your servants or these people that you have put me in prison? 19Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, claiming, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you and this land’? # Jr 28:1-17 20So now please listen, my lord the king. May my petition come before you. # Jr 38:26 Don’t send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I will die there.”
21So King Zedekiah gave orders, and Jeremiah was placed in the guard’s courtyard. # Jr 32:2 He was given a loaf of bread each day from the baker’s street until all the bread was gone from the city. So Jeremiah remained in the guard’s courtyard.
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Jeremiah 37: HCSB
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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.
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