Jer 37.1-21 tells us about King Zedekiah and this occurs about 18 years after the events in Jer 36. He did not listen to Jeremiah either, but asked Jeremiah to pray for the people. At the same time, Pharaoh has set out from Egypt to confront Babylon and Babylon heard about it, and lifted the siege of Jerusalem to deal with him, but Jeremiah told the people they were coming back. Jeremiah is arrested again and he converses with Zedekiah.
v 1…Now Zedekiah the son of Josiah whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had made king in the land of Judah, reigned as king in place of Coniah (the brother of Yehoiakim who died and did not get a royal burial as prophesied in Jer 36) the son of Yehoiakim.
v 2…But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the Lord which he spoke through Jeremiah the prophet.
v 3…Yet King Zedekiah sent Yehuca (Yehovah is able) the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to see Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “Please pray to the Lord our God on our behalf (that Babylon would not come back; by this we know that Zedekiah knew that Jeremiah was from the Lord, but didn’t listen to Jeremiah or take his counsel).”
v 4…Now Jeremiah was still coming in and going out among the people for they had not yet put him in the prison (he was at liberty).
v 5…Meanwhile, Pharaoh’s army had set out from Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who had been besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they lifted the siege from Jerusalem (they would fight Egypt at another place so that Jewish forces could not join in against Babylon).
v 6…Then the word of the Lord (Yehovah) came to Jeremiah the prophet, saying,
v 7…”Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Thus you are to say to the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me: “Behold (see), Pharaoh’s army which has come out for your assistance is going to return to its own land of Egypt (their help would be in vain, they would not fight Babylon).
v 8…The Chaldeans will also return and fight against this city, and they will capture it and burn it with fire (nobody can stop what Yehovah has decreed, and spiritually, Babylon is a picture of all false religion that depends on anything but true faith in the God of Israel, but comes to destroy men eventually in the lake of fire).”
v 9…”Thus says the Lord, ‘Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely go away from us” for they will not go.
v 10…’For even if you had defeated the entire army of the 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 burn this city with fire (what God has decreed cannot be stopped, circumstances mean nothing).”
v 11…Now it happened, when the army of the Chaldeans lifted the siege from Jerusalem because of Pharoah’s army,
v 12…that Jeremiah went out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin in order to take possession of some property there among the people (personal business).
v 13…While he was at the gate of Benjamin (one of the gates of Jerusalem), a captain of the guard (a watchman) whose name was Iriyah (Yehovah sees me), the son of Shelemiah the son of Hananiah (whose death Jeremiah predicted-his grandson wanted revenge) was there, and he arrested Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are going over to the Chaldeans (as a deserter)!”
v 14…But Jeremiah said, “A lie! I am not going over to the Chaldeans”; yet he would not listen to him. So Iriyah arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials (princes and the king’s counselors).
v 15…Then the officials were angry at Jeremiah and beat him, and they put him in jail in the house of Yehonaton the scribe (like a secretary of state), which they had made into a prison (for state prisoners).
v 16…For Jeremiah had come into the dungeon (a cistern or pit), that is, the vaulted cell (the innermost part); and Jeremiah stayed there many days (with no complaints).
v 17…Now King Zedekiah sent and took him out; and in his palace the king secretly asked him and said, “Is there a word from the Lord?” And Jeremiah said, “There is!” Then he said, “You will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon (the true messenger of Yehovah will tell the truth of his word, even though it may not be to his benefit)!”
v 18…Moreover (in addition) Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah (taking advantage that they were alone), “In what way have I sinned against you, or against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison?
v 19…Where then are your prophets (false ones) who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you or this land?’
v 20…But now, please listen, O my lord the king; please let my petition come before you, and do not make me return to the house of Yehonaton the scribe, that I may not die there.”
v 21…Then King Zedekiah gave commandment, and they committed Jeremiah to the court of the guardhouse and gave him a loaf of bread daily from the baker’s street, until the bread in the city was gone (resigned to his fate, the king showed him some kindness, but he should have released him but he did not have the courage). So Jeremiah remained in the court of the guardhouse.
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