Jeremiah 37:11–21

¹¹After the Babylonian army had withdrawnⁱ from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army, ¹²Jeremiah started to leave the city to go to the territory of Benjamin to get his share of the property^j among the people there. ¹³But when he reached the Benjamin Gate,^k the captain of the guard, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, arrested him and said, “You are deserting to the Babylonians!”^l

¹⁴“That’s not true!” Jeremiah said. “I am not deserting to the Babylonians.” But Irijah would not listen to him; instead, he arrested^m Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. ¹⁵They were angry with Jeremiah and had him beatenⁿ and imprisoned^o in the house^p of Jonathan the secretary, which they had made into a prison.

¹⁶Jeremiah was put into a vaulted cell in a dungeon, where he remained a long time. ¹⁷Then King Zedekiah sent^q for him and had him brought to the palace, where he asked^r him privately,^s “Is there any word from the Lord?”

“Yes,” Jeremiah replied, “you will be delivered^t into the hands of the king of Babylon.”

¹⁸Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “What crime^u have I committed against you or your attendants or this people, that you have put me in prison? ¹⁹Where are your prophets^v who prophesied to you, ‘The king of Babylon will not attack you or this land’? ²⁰But now, my lord the king, please listen. Let me bring my petition before you: Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary, or I will die there.”^w

²¹King Zedekiah then gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread from the street of the bakers each day until all the bread^x in the city was gone.^y So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.^z