Jeremiah 37

A request for prayer

1Zedekiah son of Josiah became king in place of Coniah son of Jehoiakim. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had made him king over the land of Judah. 2Neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words the LORD spoke through Jeremiah the prophet. 3King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah the prophet with this request: “Please pray to the LORD our God for us.” 4Jeremiah was still coming and going among the people; they had not yet put him in prison. 5Pharaoh's army had marched out of Egypt. When the Chaldeans besieging Jerusalem heard the news, they withdrew from Jerusalem.

The army will return

6Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet: 7“The LORD, the God of Israel, says: Tell the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of me: Pharaoh's army, which marched out to help you, is going back to its own land, Egypt. 8The Chaldeans will return, fight this city, capture it, and burn it down. 9The LORD says: Do not deceive yourselves by saying, ‘The Chaldeans will surely leave us.’ They will not leave. 10Even if you defeated the whole Chaldean army fighting against you, leaving only wounded men, each would rise from his tent and burn this city down.”

Jeremiah arrested

11When the Chaldean army withdrew from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh's army, 12Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem for the land of Benjamin to receive his share there among the people. 13At the Benjamin Gate, a guard officer named Irijah son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, seized Jeremiah the prophet. “You are deserting to the Chaldeans!” he said. 14“That is a lie!” Jeremiah answered. “I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.” But Irijah would not listen. He arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. 15The officials were angry with Jeremiah. They beat him and imprisoned him in the house of Jonathan the scribe, which they had made into a prison. 16Jeremiah was put into the dungeon, into its cells, and remained there many days.

A private question and a plea

17Then King Zedekiah sent for him. In his palace the king secretly asked, “Is there a word from the LORD?” Jeremiah answered, “There is. You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.” 18Jeremiah also said to King Zedekiah, “What wrong have I done to you, your servants, or this people, that you have put me in prison? 19Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land’? 20Now, my lord the king, please listen. Let my plea fall before you: do not send me back to Jonathan the scribe's house, or I will die there.” 21King Zedekiah ordered Jeremiah to be held in the guard courtyard and given a loaf of bread each day from the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the guard courtyard.