Jeremiah 37–38

Chapter 37

Jeremiah Warns against Trust in Pharaoh

¹Now ^aZedekiah the son of Josiah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had ^bmade king in the land of Judah, reigned as king in place of ^cConiah the son of Jehoiakim.

²But ^aneither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the Lord which He spoke through Jeremiah the prophet.

³Yet ^aKing Zedekiah sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and ^bZephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “^cPlease pray to the Lord our God on our behalf.”

⁴Now Jeremiah was still coming in and going out among the people, for they had not yet ^aput him in the prison.

⁵Meanwhile, ^aPharaoh’s army had set out from Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who had been besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they ^blifted the siege from Jerusalem.

⁶Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, saying,

⁷“Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘^aThus you are to say to the king of Judah, who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: “Behold, ^bPharaoh’s army which has come out for your assistance is going to return to its own land of Egypt.

⁸“The Chaldeans will also ^areturn and fight against this city, and they will capture it and burn it with fire.” ’

⁹“Thus says the Lord, ‘Do not ^adeceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely go away from us,” for they will not go.

¹⁰‘For ^aeven if you had defeated the entire army of Chaldeans who were fighting against you, and there were only wounded men left among them, each man in his tent, they would rise up and ^bburn this city with fire.’ ”

Jeremiah Imprisoned

¹¹Now it happened when the army of the Chaldeans had lifted the siege from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army,

¹²that Jeremiah went out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin in order to ^atake ¹possession of some property there among the people.

¹³While he was at the ^aGate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah the son of Hananiah was there; and he ^barrested Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are ¹going over to the Chaldeans!”

¹⁴But Jeremiah said, “^aA lie! I am not ¹going over to the Chaldeans”; yet he would not listen to him. So Irijah arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials.

¹⁵Then the officials were ^aangry at Jeremiah and beat him, and they ^bput him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe, which they had made into the prison.

¹⁶For Jeremiah had come into the ^1adungeon, that is, the vaulted cell; and Jeremiah stayed there many days.

¹⁷Now King Zedekiah sent and took him out; and in his palace the king ^asecretly asked him and said, “Is there a ^bword from the Lord?” And Jeremiah said, “There is!” Then he said, “You will be ^cgiven into the hand of the king of Babylon!”

¹⁸Moreover Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “^aIn what way have I sinned against you, or against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison?

¹⁹“^aWhere then are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The ^bking of Babylon will not come against you or against this land’?

²⁰“But now, please listen, O my lord the king; please let my ^apetition ¹come before you and do not make me return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, that I may not die there.”

²¹Then King Zedekiah gave commandment, and they committed Jeremiah to the ^acourt of the guardhouse and gave him a loaf of ^bbread daily from the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was ^cgone. So Jeremiah remained in the court of the guardhouse.

Chapter 38

Jeremiah Thrown into the Cistern

¹Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jucal the ^ason of Shelemiah, and ^bPashhur the son of Malchijah heard the words that Jeremiah was speaking to all the people, saying,

²“Thus says the Lord, ‘He who ^astays in this city will die by the ^bsword and by famine and by pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans will live and have his own ^clife as booty and stay alive.’

³“Thus says the Lord, ‘This city will certainly be ^agiven into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and he will capture it.’ ”

⁴Then the ^aofficials said to the king, “Now let this man be put to death, inasmuch as he is ^1bdiscouraging the men of war who are left in this city and ²all the people, by speaking such words to them; for this man ^cis not seeking the well-being of this people but rather their harm.”

⁵So King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your ¹hands; for the king ^acan do nothing against you.”

⁶Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the ^acistern of Malchijah the king’s son, which was in the court of the guardhouse; and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. Now in the cistern there was no water but only ^bmud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.

⁷But ^aEbed-melech the Ethiopian, ¹a ^beunuch, while he was in the king’s palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. Now the king was sitting in the ^cGate of Benjamin;

⁸and Ebed-melech went out from the king’s palace and spoke to the king, saying,

⁹“My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet whom they have cast into the cistern; and he ¹will die right where he is because of the famine, for there is ^ano more bread in the city.”

¹⁰Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take thirty men from here ¹under your authority and bring up Jeremiah the prophet from the cistern before he dies.”

¹¹So Ebed-melech took the men under his ¹authority and went into the king’s palace to a place beneath the storeroom and took from there worn-out clothes and worn-out rags and let them down by ropes into the cistern to Jeremiah.

¹²Then Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Now put these worn-out clothes and rags under your armpits under the ropes”; and Jeremiah did so.

¹³So they pulled Jeremiah up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern, and Jeremiah stayed in the ^acourt of the guardhouse.

¹⁴Then King Zedekiah ^asent and ¹had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance that is in the house of the Lord; and the king said to Jeremiah, “I am going to ^bask you something; do not hide anything from me.”

¹⁵Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “^aIf I tell you, will you not certainly put me to death? Besides, if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.”

¹⁶But King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in ^asecret saying, “As the Lord lives, who made this ^1blife for us, surely I will not put you to death nor will I give you over to the hand of ^cthese men who are seeking your life.”

Interview with Zedekiah

¹⁷Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord ^aGod of hosts, the ^bGod of Israel, ‘If you will indeed ^cgo out to the officers of the king of Babylon, then ¹you will live, this city will not be burned with fire, and you and your household will ²survive.

¹⁸‘But if you will ^anot go out to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city ^bwill be given over to the hand of the Chaldeans; and they will burn it with fire, and ^cyou yourself will not escape from their hand.’ ”

¹⁹Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I ^adread the Jews who have ^1bgone over to the Chaldeans, for they may give me over into their hand and they will ^cabuse me.”

²⁰But Jeremiah said, “They will not give you over. Please ^1aobey the Lord in what I am saying to you, that it may go ^bwell with you and ^2cyou may live.

²¹“But if you keep refusing to go out, this is the word which the Lord has shown me:

²²‘Then behold, all of the ^awomen who have been left in the palace of the king of Judah are going to be brought out to the ¹officers of the king of Babylon; and those women will say,

“²Your close friends

Have misled and overpowered you;

While your feet were sunk in the mire,

They turned back.”

²³‘They will also bring out all your wives and your ^asons to the Chaldeans, and ^byou yourself will not escape from their hand, but will be seized by the hand of the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned with fire.’ ”

²⁴Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no man know about these words and you will not die.

²⁵“But if the ^aofficials hear that I have talked with you and come to you and say to you, ‘Tell us now what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us and we will not put you to death,’

²⁶then you are to say to them, ‘I was ^apresenting my petition before the king, not to make me return to the house of Jonathan to die there.’ ”

²⁷Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him. So he reported to them in accordance with all these words which the king had commanded; and they ceased speaking with him, since the ¹conversation had not been overheard.

²⁸So Jeremiah ^astayed in the court of the guardhouse until the day that Jerusalem was captured.