Jeremiah 37
Zedekiah's Inquiry and Warning
1Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned as king instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.
2But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, listened to the LORD’s words, which he spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.
3Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “Pray now to the LORD our God for us.”
4Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people, for they had not put him into prison.
5Pharaoh’s army had come out of Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.
6Then the LORD’s word came to the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
7“The LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘You shall tell the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me: “Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which has come out to help you, will return to Egypt into their own land.
8The Chaldeans will come again, and fight against this city. They will take it and burn it with fire.”’
9“The LORD says, ‘Don’t deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely depart from us;” for they will not depart.
10For though you had struck the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and only wounded men remained among them, they would each rise up in his tent and burn this city with fire.’”
Jeremiah Imprisoned
11When the army of the Chaldeans had withdrawn from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s army,
12then Jeremiah went out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to receive his portion there, in the middle of the people.
13When he was in Benjamin’s gate, a captain of the guard was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are defecting to the Chaldeans!”
14Then Jeremiah said, “That is false! I am not defecting to the Chaldeans.” But he didn’t listen to him; so Irijah seized Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes.
15The princes were angry with Jeremiah, and struck him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison.
16When Jeremiah had come into the dungeon house and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days,
17then Zedekiah the king sent and had him brought out. The king asked him secretly in his house, “Is there any word from the LORD?” Jeremiah said, “There is.” He also said, “You will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.”
18Moreover Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “How have I sinned against you, against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison?
19Now where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you, nor against this land’?
20Now please hear, my lord the king: please let my supplication be presented before you, that you not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.”
21Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard. They gave him daily a loaf of bread out of the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was gone. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
King Zedekiah seeks Jeremiah's prayers and prophecy as Egyptian forces temporarily lift Babylon's siege of Jerusalem. Despite this apparent reprieve, Jeremiah delivers God's unwavering message that the Babylonians will return to capture and destroy the city. When Jeremiah attempts to leave Jerusalem on personal business, he is falsely accused of defecting to the enemy and imprisoned, though Zedekiah secretly continues to seek his prophetic counsel.
Context
This chapter occurs during the final siege of Jerusalem, building on previous warnings while showing the tragic irony of leaders seeking God's word while rejecting His messenger.
Key Themes
Outline
- 1-2Zedekiah's Disobedient ReignIntroduction of King Zedekiah and the nation's continued rejection of Jeremiah's prophetic warnings.
- 3-5Request for Prayer During Siege ReliefZedekiah sends messengers asking Jeremiah to pray as Egyptian forces cause the Babylonians to temporarily withdraw.
- 6-10God's Unchanging JudgmentThe Lord declares through Jeremiah that Egypt will retreat and Babylon will return to destroy Jerusalem.
- 11-16Jeremiah's False Accusation and ImprisonmentJeremiah is wrongly accused of defecting to the Chaldeans and beaten and imprisoned by the officials.
- 17-21Secret Royal ConsultationZedekiah privately seeks Jeremiah's counsel, receives the same judgment message, and grants the prophet's request for better prison conditions.
Zedekiah's Inquiry and Warning
37:1–37:10King Zedekiah seeks Jeremiah's prayers while ignoring God's words. God warns through Jeremiah that Egypt's temporary relief will not save Jerusalem from Babylonian conquest and destruction.
person_contrast
Zedekiah's lineage from righteous Josiah creates bitter irony—the grandson of Judah's greatest reformer becomes the king who definitively rejects prophetic warnings and seals Jerusalem's doom.
Jeremiah Imprisoned
37:11–37:21Jeremiah is falsely accused of desertion and imprisoned by the princes. King Zedekiah secretly consults him and receives confirmation of Babylon's victory, leading to Jeremiah's transfer to better prison conditions.
person_contrast
Jeremiah's imprisonment for alleged desertion ironically fulfills his own prophecies about Jerusalem's fate, making him both herald and victim of divine judgment.
Jeremiah 37:1
Jeremiah 46:2lexicalOf Egypt: concerning the army of Pharaoh Necoh king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebu…
Jeremiah 25:1lexicalThe word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, ki…
2 Chronicles 36:10lexicalAt the return of the year, King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, with the valuable vessels of the LORD’s…
Jeremiah 1:3lexicalIt came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, to the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the…
1 Chronicles 3:15lexicalThe sons of Josiah: the firstborn Johanan, the second Jehoiakim, the third Zedekiah, and the fourth Shallum.
Jeremiah 37:3
Jeremiah 21:1lexicalThe word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD, when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchijah, and Zephania…
Jeremiah 42:2lexicaland said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please let our supplication be presented before you, and pray for us to the LORD your…
Jeremiah 29:29lexicalZephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.
Jeremiah 36:26lexicalThe king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to arrest B…
Genesis 20:7lexicalNow therefore, restore the man’s wife. For he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. If you don’t re…
Jeremiah 37:8
Jeremiah 32:29lexicalThe Chaldeans, who fight against this city, will come and set this city on fire, and burn it with the houses on whose ro…
Jeremiah 34:22lexicalBehold, I will command,” says the LORD, “and cause them to return to this city. They will fight against it, take it, and…
Jeremiah 32:24lexical“Behold, siege ramps have been built against the city to take it. The city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans who f…
Jeremiah 38:23lexicalThey will bring out all your wives and your children to the Chaldeans. You won’t escape out of their hand, but will be t…
Jeremiah 38:18lexicalBut if you will not go out to the king of Babylon’s princes, then this city will be given into the hand of the Chaldeans…
Jeremiah 37:10
Jeremiah 32:29lexicalThe Chaldeans, who fight against this city, will come and set this city on fire, and burn it with the houses on whose ro…
Jeremiah 39:8lexicalThe Chaldeans burned the king’s house and the people’s houses with fire and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 38:23lexicalThey will bring out all your wives and your children to the Chaldeans. You won’t escape out of their hand, but will be t…
Jeremiah 38:18lexicalBut if you will not go out to the king of Babylon’s princes, then this city will be given into the hand of the Chaldeans…
Jeremiah 34:7lexicalwhen the king of Babylon’s army was fighting against Jerusalem and against all the cities of Judah that were left, again…
Jeremiah 37:13
Jeremiah 20:2lexicalThen Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the upper gate of Benjamin, which was in…
Jeremiah 36:26lexicalThe king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to arrest B…
Jeremiah 28:15lexicalThen the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen, Hananiah! The LORD has not sent you, but you make this…
Jeremiah 28:5lexicalThen the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests, and in the presence of all the pe…
Jeremiah 28:11lexicalHananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, “The LORD says: ‘Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezz…
Jeremiah 37:17
Jeremiah 38:16lexicalSo Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, “As the LORD lives, who made our souls, I will not put you to d…
Jeremiah 38:14lexicalThen Zedekiah the king sent and took Jeremiah the prophet to himself into the third entry that is in the LORD’s house. T…
Jeremiah 38:17lexicalThen Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “The LORD, the God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you will go out to the king o…
Jeremiah 51:59lexicalThe word which Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah…
Jeremiah 37:19
Jeremiah 27:16lexicalAlso I spoke to the priests and to all this people, saying, the LORD says, “Don’t listen to the words of your prophets w…
Jeremiah 27:14lexicalDon’t listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You shall not serve the king of Babylon;’ for they…
Jeremiah 28:6lexicaleven the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the LORD do so. May the LORD perform your words which you have prophesied, to…
Jeremiah 37:20
Jeremiah 38:26lexicalthen you shall tell them, ‘I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan…
Jeremiah 42:2lexicaland said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please let our supplication be presented before you, and pray for us to the LORD your…
Jeremiah 37:21
Jeremiah 38:6lexicalThen they took Jeremiah and threw him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king’s son, that was in the court of the guard.…
Jeremiah 38:28lexicalSo Jeremiah stayed in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.
Jeremiah 33:1lexicalMoreover the LORD’s word came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still locked up in the court of the guard, sayin…
Jeremiah 32:2lexicalNow at that time the king of Babylon’s army was besieging Jerusalem. Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of th…
Jeremiah 38:13lexicalSo they lifted Jeremiah up with the cords, and took him up out of the dungeon; and Jeremiah remained in the court of the…
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