Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah

1And king Zedekiah son of Josiah reigned in place of Coniah† son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. 2And he did not listen—he and his servants and the people of the land—to the words of YHWH that He spoke by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet.

3And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal† son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest to Jeremiah the prophet, saying: “Pray, please, for us to YHWH our God.

4And Jeremiah was coming and going among the people, and they had not put him in the house of imprisonment. 5And the army of Pharaoh had come up from Egypt, and the Chaldeans† laying siege on Jerusalem heard news of them, and they went up from Jerusalem.

6And the word of YHWH came to Jeremiah the prophet, saying: 7“Thus says YHWH, the God of Israel: Thus you⁺ will say to the king of Judah, the one sending you⁺ to Me to inquire of Me, ‘Behold, the army of Pharaoh, which has come up to help you⁺, will return to Egypt, to its own land. 8And the Chaldeans will return again and will make war against this city, and they will capture it and burn it with the fire!

9Thus says YHWH: Do not deceive yourselves, saying, ‘The Chaldeans will surely depart from us.’ For they will not depart. 10For if you⁺ were to strike all the force of the Chaldeans who are fighting against you⁺, and there remained among them only wounded men, then they would rise up, each man in his tent, and burn this city with fire!

Jeremiah Imprisoned

11And it came to pass in the going up of the army of the Chaldeans from Jerusalem for fear of the army of Pharaoh, 12that Jeremiah went forth from Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to divide from there among the people. 13And it came to pass when he was in the Gate of Benjamin, that a captain of the guard was there, and his name was Irijah son of Shelemiah son of Hananiah. And he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “To the Chaldeans you are falling away!

14And Jeremiah said, “Falsehood!” I am not falling away to the Chaldeans.”

And he would not listen to him, and Irijah seized Jeremiah and brought him to the princes.

15And the princes were angry at Jeremiah, and they struck him and put him in the house of bond in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made it into a house of restraint.

16When Jeremiah came into the house of the dungeon and into the cells, then Jeremiah dwelt there many days.

17And the king Zedekiah sent and took him out, and the king asked him in his house in secret and said: “Is there a word from YHWH?”

And Jeremiah said, “There is.” And he said, “Into the hand of the king of Babylon you will be given!

18And Jeremiah said to king Zedekiah, “What wrong have I done against you and against your servants and against this people, that you⁺ have put me into the house of restraint? 19Where indeed are your⁺ prophets who prophesied to you⁺, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you⁺ or against this land’? 20and now listen, please, O my lord the king: Let my petition, please, be accepted before you, and do not make me return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, that I should not die there.

21And king the Zedekiah ordered that they should commit Jeremiah to the court of the guard and give to him a piece of bread day by day out of the street of the bakers, until all the bread in the city was finished. Thus Jeremiah dwelt in the court of the guard.