Zedekiah’s Vain Hope
1 Now KingZedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.
2 But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land gave heed to the words of theLordwhich He spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.
3 And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, andZephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying,“Pray now to theLordour God for us.”
4 Now Jeremiah was coming and going among the people, for they had notyetput him in prison.
5 ThenPharaoh’s army came up from Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they departed from Jerusalem.
6 Then the word of theLordcame to the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
7 “Thus says theLord, the God of Israel, ‘Thus you shall say to the king of Judah,who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: “Behold, Pharaoh’s army which has come up to help you will return to Egypt, to their own land.
8 And the Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city, and take it and burn it with fire.” ’
9 Thus says theLord: ‘Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely depart from us,” for they will not depart.
10 For though you had defeated the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remainedonlywounded men among them, they would rise up, every man in his tent, and burn the city with fire.’ ”
Jeremiah Imprisoned
11 And it happened, when the army of the Chaldeans leftthesiegeof Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s army,
12 that Jeremiah went out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to claim his property there among the people.
13 And when he was in the Gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guardwasthere whose namewasIrijah the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are defecting to the Chaldeans!”
14 Then Jeremiah said, “False! I am not defecting to the Chaldeans.” But he did not listen to him.
So Irijah seized Jeremiah and brought him to the princes.
15 Therefore the princes were angry with Jeremiah, and they struck himand put him in prison in thehouse of Jonathan the scribe. For they had made that the prison.
16 When Jeremiah enteredthe dungeon and the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days,
17 then Zedekiah the king sent and took himout.The king asked him secretly in his house, and said, “Is thereanyword from theLord?”
# And Jeremiah said, “There is.” Then he said, “You shall bedelivered into the hand of the king of Babylon!”
18 Moreover Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “What offense have I committed against you, against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison?
19 Where nowareyour prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land’?
20 Therefore please hear now, O my lord the king. Please, let my petition be accepted before you, and do not make me return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.”
21 Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiahto the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread from the bakers’ street,until all the bread in the city was gone. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.