Jeremiah 37

Modern

Literal

Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah

¹Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made Zedekiah son of Josiah the king of Judah, and he reigned in place of Coniah^a son of Jehoiakim.

¹And king Zedekiah son of Josiah reigned in place of Coniah son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.

²But he and his officers and the people of the land refused to obey the words that the LORD had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.

²And he did not listen—he and his servants and the people of the land—to the words of YHWH that He spoke by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet.

³Yet King Zedekiah sent Jehucal^a son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet with the message, “Please pray to the LORD our God for us!”

³And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest to Jeremiah the prophet, saying: “Pray, please, for us to YHWH our God.

⁴Now Jeremiah was free to come and go among the people, for they had not yet put him in prison.

⁴And Jeremiah was coming and going in the midst of the people, and they had not put him in the house of imprisonment.

⁵Pharaoh’s army had left Egypt, and when the Chaldeans^a who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report, they withdrew from Jerusalem.

⁵And the army of Pharaoh had come up from Egypt, and the Chaldeans laying siege on Jerusalem heard news of them, and they went up from Jerusalem.

⁶Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet:

⁶And the word of YHWH came to Jeremiah the prophet, saying:

⁷“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says that you are to tell the king of Judah, who sent you to Me: Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which has marched out to help you, will go back to its own land of Egypt.

⁷“Thus says YHWH, the God of Israel: Thus you will say to the king of Judah, the one sending you to Me to inquire of Me, ‘Behold, the army of Pharaoh, which has come up to help you, will return to Egypt, to its own land.

⁸Then the Chaldeans will return and fight against this city. They will capture it and burn it down.

⁸And the Chaldeans will return again and will make war against this city, and they will capture it and burn it with the fire!

⁹This is what the LORD says: Do not deceive yourselves by saying, ‘The Chaldeans will go away for good,’ for they will not!

⁹Thus says YHWH: Do not deceive yourselves, saying, ‘The Chaldeans will surely depart from us.’ For they will not depart.

¹⁰Indeed, if you were to strike down the entire army of the Chaldeans that is fighting against you, and only wounded men remained in their tents, they would still get up and burn this city down.”

¹⁰For if you were to strike all the force of the Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and there remained among them only wounded men, then they would rise up, each man in his tent, and burn this city with fire!

Jeremiah Imprisoned

¹¹When the Chaldean army withdrew from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s army,

¹¹And it came to pass in the going up of the army of the Chaldeans from Jerusalem for fear of the army of Pharaoh,

¹²Jeremiah started to leave Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to claim his portion there^a among the people.

¹²that Jeremiah went forth from Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to divide from there in the midst of the people.

¹³But when he reached the Gate of Benjamin, the captain of the guard, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, seized him and said, “You are deserting to the Chaldeans!”

¹³And it came to pass when he was in the Gate of Benjamin, that a captain of the guard was there, and his name was Irijah son of Shelemiah son of Hananiah. And he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “To the Chaldeans you are falling away!

¹⁴“That is a lie,” Jeremiah replied. “I am not deserting to the Chaldeans!”

But Irijah would not listen to him; instead, he arrested Jeremiah and took him to the officials.

¹⁴And Jeremiah said, “Falsehood!” I am not falling away to the Chaldeans.” And he would not listen to him, and Irijah seized Jeremiah and brought him to the princes.

¹⁵The officials were angry with Jeremiah, and they beat him and placed him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for it had been made into a prison.

¹⁵And the princes were angry at Jeremiah, and they struck him and put him in the house of bond in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made it into a house of restraint.

¹⁶So Jeremiah went into a cell in the dungeon and remained there a long time.

¹⁶When Jeremiah came into the house of the dungeon and into the cells, then Jeremiah dwelt there many days.

¹⁷Later, King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah and received him in his palace, where he asked him privately, “Is there a word from the LORD?”

“There is,” Jeremiah replied. “You will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.”

¹⁷And the king Zedekiah sent and took him out, and the king asked him in his house in secret and said: “Is there a word from YHWH?” And Jeremiah said, “There is.” And he said, “Into the hand of the king of Babylon you will be given!

¹⁸Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah, “How have I sinned against you or your servants or these people, that you have put me in prison?

¹⁸And Jeremiah said to king Zedekiah, “What wrong have I done against you and against your servants and against this people, that you have put me into the house of restraint?

¹⁹Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, claiming, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you or this land’ ?

¹⁹Where indeed are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land’?

²⁰But now please listen, O my lord the king. May my petition come before you. Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I will die there.”

²⁰and now listen, please, O my lord the king: Let my petition, please, be accepted before you, and do not make me return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, that I should not die there.

²¹So King Zedekiah gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread daily from the street of the bakers, until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

²¹And king the Zedekiah ordered that they should commit Jeremiah to the court of the guard and give to him a piece of bread day by day out of the street of the bakers, until all the bread in the city was finished. Thus Jeremiah dwelt in the court of the guard.