Jeremiah 37:11–21

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.