Jeremiah 37:1-14 ▼

1 And 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.

2 And 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.

3 And 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.

4 And Jeremiah was coming and going in the midst of the people, and they had not put him in the house of imprisonment.

5 And 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.

6 And 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.

8 And the Chaldeans will return again and will make war against this city, and they will capture it and burn it with the fire!

9 Thus says YHWH: Do not deceive yourselves, saying, ‘The Chaldeans will surely depart from us.’ For they will not depart.

10 For 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!

11 And it came to pass in the going up of the army of the Chaldeans from Jerusalem for fear of the army of Pharaoh,

12 that Jeremiah went forth from Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to divide from there in the midst of the people.

13 And 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!

14 And 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.