[1] And Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, became king in place of Coniah, the
son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, made king in the
land of Judah. [2] But he and his servants and the people of the land did
not give ear to the words of the Lord which he said by Jeremiah the
prophet. [3] And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal, the son of Shelemiah, and
Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
Make prayer now to the Lord our God for us. [4] (Now Jeremiah was going
about among the people, for they had not put him in prison. [5] And
Pharaoh's army had come out from Egypt: and the Chaldaeans, who were
attacking Jerusalem, hearing news of them, went away from Jerusalem.) [6]
Then the word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, [7] The
Lord, the God of Israel, has said: This is what you are to say to the king
of Judah who sent you to get directions from me: See, Pharaoh's army, which
has come out to your help, will go back to Egypt, to their land. [8] And
the Chaldaeans will come back again and make war against this town and they
will take it and put it on fire. [9] The Lord has said, Have no false
hopes, saying to yourselves, The Chaldaeans will go away from us: for they
will not go away. [10] For even if you had overcome all the army of the
Chaldaeans fighting against you, and there were only wounded men among
them, still they would get up, every man in his tent, and put this town on
fire. [11] And it came about that when the Chaldaean army outside Jerusalem
had gone away for fear of Pharaoh's army, [12] Jeremiah went out of
Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, with the purpose of taking up
his heritage there among the people. [13] But when he was at the Benjamin
door, a captain of the watch named Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of
Hananiah, who was stationed there, put his hand on Jeremiah the prophet,
saying, You are going to give yourself up to the Chaldaeans. [14] Then
Jeremiah said, That is not true; I am not going to the Chaldaeans. But he
would not give ear to him: so Irijah made him prisoner and took him to the
rulers. [15] And the rulers were angry with Jeremiah, and gave him blows
and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had
made that the prison. [16] So Jeremiah came into the hole of the prison,
under the arches, and was there for a long time. [17] Then King Zedekiah
sent and got him out: and the king, questioning him secretly in his house,
said, Is there any word from the Lord? And Jeremiah said, There is. Then he
said, You will be given up into the hands of the king of Babylon. [18] Then
Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, What has been my sin against you or against
your servants or against this people, that you have put me in prison? [19]
Where now are your prophets who said to you, The king of Babylon will not
come against you and against this land? [20] And now be pleased to give
ear, O my lord the king; let my prayer for help come before you, and do not
make me go back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, for fear that I may
come to my death there. [21] Then by the order of Zedekiah the king,
Jeremiah was put into the place of the armed watchmen, and they gave him
every day a cake of bread from the street of the bread-makers, till all the
bread in the town was used up. So Jeremiah was kept in the place of the
armed watchmen.
