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Jeremiah 37

Jeremiah declares God’s unchanged judgment despite a break in the siege, a false accusation, and imprisonment that threatens his life.

Jerusalem’s Babylonian besiegers withdraw when an Egyptian army approaches, and King Zedekiah asks Jeremiah to pray for Judah. Neither the king nor his people have listened to God’s words. Through Jeremiah, YHWH declares that Egypt will retreat and Babylon will return to burn Jerusalem. During the pause, Jeremiah is arrested on a false charge of desertion and imprisoned. Zedekiah later questions him in secret, hears the same warning, and grants his request for a different place of confinement.

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1Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned as king instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.
2But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, listened to the LORD’s words, which he spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.
3Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “Pray now to the LORD our God for us.”
5Pharaoh’s army had come out of Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.
7“The LORD, the God of Israel, says, ‘You shall tell the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me: “Behold, Pharaoh’s army, which has come out to help you, will return to Egypt into their own land.
8The Chaldeans will come again, and fight against this city. They will take it and burn it with fire.”’
9“The LORD says, ‘Don’t deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely depart from us;” for they will not depart.
10For though you had struck the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and only wounded men remained among them, they would each rise up in his tent and burn this city with fire.’”
12then Jeremiah went out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to receive his portion there, in the middle of the people.
13When he was in Benjamin’s gate, a captain of the guard was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are defecting to the Chaldeans!”
14Then Jeremiah said, “That is false! I am not defecting to the Chaldeans.” But he didn’t listen to him; so Irijah seized Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes.
15The princes were angry with Jeremiah, and struck him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison.
16When Jeremiah had come into the dungeon house and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days,
17then Zedekiah the king sent and had him brought out. The king asked him secretly in his house, “Is there any word from the LORD?” Jeremiah said, “There is.” He also said, “You will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.”
18Moreover Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “How have I sinned against you, against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison?
19Now where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you, nor against this land’?
20Now please hear, my lord the king: please let my supplication be presented before you, that you not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.”
21Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard. They gave him daily a loaf of bread out of the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was gone. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
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Key verses
Jeremiah 37:7God’s answer to Zedekiah strips away hope in Egyptian help: the approaching army will return home.
Jeremiah 37:17Even after many days in the dungeon, Jeremiah tells the king that Babylon will capture him.
Jeremiah 37:21The king grants Jeremiah safer confinement and bread, yet the prophet remains a prisoner as the city’s supplies run out.
Where this chapter reaches

2 Kings shares the setting of Zedekiah’s reign under Babylonian power and recounts Jerusalem’s eventual fall, the event Jeremiah announces here. Ezekiel shares the warning that Egyptian military aid will fail to rescue Judah from Babylon, exposing the same misplaced hope in foreign support.

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After reading the whole chapter

What stands out about Zedekiah seeking prayer and God’s word while refusing to listen?

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How does Jeremiah’s plea to leave the dungeon shape your understanding of his courage?

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Questions people ask about Jeremiah 37

Why was Jeremiah put in prison in Jeremiah 37?

A guard at Benjamin’s gate accused Jeremiah of defecting to the Chaldeans as he left Jerusalem. The narrative says he was going to Benjamin to receive his portion, though it gives no further details about that business. Jeremiah denied the charge, but the officials beat and imprisoned him.

Did Egypt save Jerusalem in Jeremiah 37?

Egypt’s advancing army caused the Chaldeans to withdraw from Jerusalem for a time. God told Jeremiah that the Egyptians would return home and the Chaldeans would resume the siege, capture Jerusalem, and burn it. The chapter records that warning; Jerusalem’s destruction has not yet occurred within its account.

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Jeremiah · 52 chapters
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).