Jeremiah 37

1 After Jehoiakim died, [his son Jehoiachin became king for only three months, after which] King Josiah’s son Zedekiah became the King of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, appointed him to be the new king.

And Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, became king in place of Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, made king in the land of Judah.

2 But King Zedekiah and his palace officials and the other people in the land paid no attention to the messages that Yahweh gave me.

But he and his servants and the people of the land did not give ear to the words of the Lord which he said by Jeremiah the prophet.

3 However, [one day] King Zedekiah sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the priest, who was the son of Maaseiah, to me. They requested me to pray to Yahweh our God for our [nation].

And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal, the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Make prayer now to the Lord our God for us.

4 At that time I had not yet been put in prison, so I could come and go wherever and whenever I wanted to, [without being hindered].

(Now Jeremiah was going about among the people, for they had not put him in prison.

5 [At that time], the army of [Hophra], the King of Egypt, came [to the southern border of Judah]. When the army of Babylonia heard about that, they stopped surrounding Jerusalem and left there [to fight against the army from Egypt].

And Pharaoh's army had come out from Egypt: and the Chaldaeans, who were attacking Jerusalem, hearing news of them, went away from Jerusalem.)

6 Then Yahweh gave this message to me:

Then the word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah, saying,

7 “[I], Yahweh, the God whom [you] Israelis [say you belong to], say this: ‘The King of Judah has sent [messengers] to you to ask me [what is going to happen]. Tell the king that even though the army of the King of Egypt came to help him, they are about to return to Egypt.

The Lord, the God of Israel, has said: This is what you are to say to the king of Judah who sent you to get directions from me: See, Pharaoh's army, which has come out to your help, will go back to Egypt, to their land.

8 Then the army of Babylonia will return here and capture this city and burn everything in it.’

And the Chaldaeans will come back again and make war against this town and they will take it and put it on fire.

9 [So], this is what I say [to you Israelis]: ‘You should not deceive yourselves, thinking that the army from Babylonia has gone and will not return. That is not true.

The Lord has said, Have no false hopes, saying to yourselves, The Chaldaeans will go away from us: for they will not go away.

10 And even if your soldiers could destroy almost all of the soldiers from Babylonia who are attacking you, and allow only a few of them who were wounded to remain alive in their tents, they would come out [of their tents] and burn this city completely!”’”

For even if you had overcome all the army of the Chaldaeans fighting against you, and there were only wounded men among them, still they would get up, every man in his tent, and put this town on fire.

11 When the army from Babylonia left Jerusalem because the army from Egypt was approaching,

And it came about that when the Chaldaean army outside Jerusalem had gone away for fear of Pharaoh's army,

12 I started to leave the city. I intended to go to the area [where the descendants of] Benjamin live, in order to take possession of my share of the property from my family.

Jeremiah went out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, with the purpose of taking up his heritage there among the people.

13 But as I was walking out the Benjamin Gate, a guard seized me and said, “You are deserting [us and going] to [the soldiers from] Babylonia!” The man who seized me was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah and grandson of Hananiah.

But when he was at the Benjamin door, a captain of the watch named Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, who was stationed there, put his hand on Jeremiah the prophet, saying, You are going to give yourself up to the Chaldaeans.

14 But I [protested and] said, “That is not true! I was not intending to do that!” But Irijah would not pay attention to what I said. He took me to the [king’s] officials.

Then Jeremiah said, That is not true; I am not going to the Chaldaeans. But he would not give ear to him: so Irijah made him prisoner and took him to the rulers.

15 They were very angry with me. They [commanded the guards to] beat me and [then to] put me in the house where Jonathan the king’s secretary stayed. They had changed Jonathan’s house to make it become a prison.

And the rulers were angry with Jeremiah, and gave him blows and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the prison.

16 They put me in a dungeon/cell in that prison, and I remained there for several days.

So Jeremiah came into the hole of the prison, under the arches, and was there for a long time.

17 Then King Zedekiah secretly sent a servant to me, who took me to the palace. There the king asked me, “Do you have any messages from Yahweh?” I replied, “Yes, [the message is that] you will be handed over to the king of Babylon.”

Then King Zedekiah sent and got him out: and the king, questioning him secretly in his house, said, Is there any word from the Lord? And Jeremiah said, There is. Then he said, You will be given up into the hands of the king of Babylon.

18 Then I asked the king, “What crime have I committed [RHQ] against you or against your officials or against the Israeli people, with the result that you have [commanded that] I be put in a prison?

Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, What has been my sin against you or against your servants or against this people, that you have put me in prison?

19 Your prophets predicted that the army of the king of Babylon would not attack you or this land. Why were [RHQ] [their messages] not fulfilled?

Where now are your prophets who said to you, The king of Babylon will not come against you and against this land?

20 Your majesty, I plead with you to listen to me. Do not send me back to the dungeon/cell in the house of Jonathan your secretary, because [if you do that, ] I will die there.”

And now be pleased to give ear, O my lord the king; let my prayer for help come before you, and do not make me go back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, for fear that I may come to my death there.

21 So King Zedekiah commanded that [I not be sent back to the prison cell. Instead, ] I was allowed to be watched by the guards in the courtyard [of the palace]. [The king] also [commanded that they should] bring me a loaf of fresh bread every day, until there was no bread left in the city. So [they put me] in that courtyard and I remained there.

Then by the order of Zedekiah the king, Jeremiah was put into the place of the armed watchmen, and they gave him every day a cake of bread from the street of the bread-makers, till all the bread in the town was used up. So Jeremiah was kept in the place of the armed watchmen.