Jeremiah

JEREMIAH 36:32
just as I promised, because they have not listened
to me.’”
32Then Jeremiah took another scroll and
gave it to Baruch son of Neriah, the scribe. As
Jeremiah spoke, Baruch wrote on the scroll
the same messages that were on the scroll
that King Jehoiakim had burned in the fire.
And many other words like those messages
were added to the second scroll.
a 37:12 the land of Benjamin Jeremiah was going
to his hometown, Anathoth, which was in the land
of Benjamin.
638
got to the Benjamin Gate of Jerusalem, b the
captain in charge of the guards arrested him.
The captain’s name was Irijah son of Shelemiah.
Shelemiah was the son of Hananiah.
So Irijah the captain arrested Jeremiah and
said, “Jeremiah, you are leaving us to join the
Babylonian side.”
14Jeremiah said to Irijah, “That is not true!
I am not leaving to join the Babylonians.” But
Irijah refused to listen to Jeremiah. And Irijah
arrested Jeremiah and took him to the royal
officials of Jerusalem. 15Those officials were
very angry with Jeremiah. They gave an order
for Jeremiah to be beaten. Then they put him
in a prison. The prison was in the house of
Jonathan, a scribe* for the king of Judah. His
house had been made into a prison. 16They
put Jeremiah into a cell under the house of
Jonathan. The cell was in a dungeon* under
the ground. Jeremiah was there for a long
time.
17Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah
and had him brought to the palace. Zedekiah
talked to Jeremiah in private. He asked Jeremiah,
“Is there any message from the Lord?”
Jeremiah answered, “Yes, there is a message
from the Lord. Zedekiah, you will be given to
the king of Babylon.” 18Then Jeremiah said
to King Zedekiah, “What have I done wrong?
What crime have I done against you or your
officials or the people of Jerusalem? Why have
you thrown me into prison? 19King Zedekiah,
where are your prophets now? They told you
a false message. They said, ‘The king of Babylon
will not attack you or this land of Judah.’
20But now, my lord, king of Judah, please listen
to me. Please let me bring my request to
you. This is what I ask: Don’t send me back to
the house of Jonathan the scribe. If you send
me back, I will die there.”
21So King Zedekiah gave orders for Jeremiah
to be put under guard in the courtyard.
And he ordered that Jeremiah should be given
bread from the street bakers. He was given
bread until there was no more bread in the
city. So Jeremiah stayed under guard in the
courtyard.
Jeremiah Is Put Into Prison
37 1Nebuchadnezzar was the king of
Babylon. He appointed Zedekiah son
of Josiah to be the king of Judah in the place of
Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim. 2But Zedekiah,
his servants, and the people of Judah did not
pay attention to the messages the Lord had
given to Jeremiah the prophet.*
3King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah
and the priest Zephaniah son of
Maaseiah to Jeremiah the prophet with a
message. This was the message they brought
to Jeremiah: “Jeremiah, pray to the Lord our
God for us.”
4At that time Jeremiah had not yet been put
into prison, so he was free to go anywhere
he wanted. 5Also at that time Pharaoh’s army
had marched from Egypt toward Judah. The
Babylonian army had surrounded the city of
Jerusalem in order to defeat it. Then they had
heard about the army from Egypt marching
toward them. So the army from Babylon left
Jerusalem to fight with the army from Egypt.
6This message from the Lord came to Jeremiah
the prophet: 7“This is what the Lord,
the God of the people of Israel, says: ‘Jehucal
and Zephaniah, I know that King Zedekiah of
Judah sent you to me to ask questions. Tell
King Zedekiah this: Pharaoh’s army marched
out of Egypt to come here to help you against
the army of Babylon. But Pharaoh’s army
will go back to Egypt. 8After that, the army
from Babylon will come back here and attack
Jerusalem. Then they will capture and burn
it.’ 9This is what the Lord says: ‘People of
Jerusalem, don’t fool yourselves. Don’t say to
yourselves, “The army of Babylon will surely
leave us alone.” They will not. 10People of
Jerusalem, even if you could defeat all the
Babylonian army that is attacking you, there
would still be a few wounded men left in their
tents. Even those few wounded men would
come out of their tents and burn Jerusalem
down.’”
11When the Babylonian army left Jerusalem
to fight the army of the Pharaoh of Egypt,
12Jeremiah wanted to travel from Jerusalem
to the land of Benjamin. a He wanted to be
there for a division of some property that
belonged to his family. 13But
Jeremiah Is Thrown Into a Cistern
38
when Jeremiah
1Some of the royal officials heard
what Jeremiah was saying. They were
Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of
Pashhur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur
son of Malkijah. Jeremiah was telling all
the people this message: 2“This is what the
Lord says: ‘Everyone who stays in Jerusalem
will die from war, hunger, or disease.
But everyone who surrenders to the army of
Babylon will live and escape with their lives.’
3And this is what the Lord says: ‘This city
of Jerusalem will surely be given to the army
b 37:13 Benjamin Gate of Jerusalem This gate led
out of Jerusalem to the road which went north to
the land of Benjamin.