nsb - Jeremiah:37

nsb@Jeremiah:37:1 @ King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon appointed Zedekiah, son of Josiah, to be king of Judah. Zedekiah succeeded Jehoiakin, son of Jehoiakim.

nsb@Jeremiah:37:2 @ Zedekiah, his administrators, and the common people did not listen to what Jehovah spoke through the prophet Jeremiah.

nsb@Jeremiah:37:3 @ King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to the prophet Jeremiah. They asked him: »Please pray to Jehovah our God for us.«

nsb@Jeremiah:37:4 @ Jeremiah was still free to come and go among the people. The people of Jerusalem had not put him in prison yet.

nsb@Jeremiah:37:5 @ Pharaoh's army came from Egypt. When the Babylonians who were blockading Jerusalem heard this news, they retreated from Jerusalem.

nsb@Jeremiah:37:6 @ Jehovah spoke his word to the prophet Jeremiah:

nsb@Jeremiah:37:7 @ »This is what Jehovah the God of Israel says: Say this to the king of Judah, who sent you to get advice from me: »Pharaoh's army has come out to help you. But it will go back to Egypt, its own land.

nsb@Jeremiah:37:8 @ »Then the Babylonians will return. They will attack the city, capture it, and burn it down.«

nsb@Jeremiah:37:9 @ »Jehovah says: Do not deceive yourselves by thinking that the Babylonians will leave you. They will not leave you.

nsb@Jeremiah:37:10 @ »Even if you would defeat the entire Babylonian army so that they had only a few badly wounded men left in their tents, they would get up and burn down this city!« «

nsb@Jeremiah:37:11 @ The Babylonian army retreated from Jerusalem because Pharaoh's army was coming.

nsb@Jeremiah:37:12 @ Jeremiah wanted to leave Jerusalem and go to the territory of Benjamin to take possession of his property there among the people.

nsb@Jeremiah:37:13 @ When he came to Benjamin Gate, the captain of the guard there, whose name was Irijah, son of Shelemiah and grandson of Hananiah, arrested the prophet Jeremiah. He said: »You are deserting to the Babylonians!«

nsb@Jeremiah:37:14 @ Jeremiah answered: »That is not true! I am not deserting to the Babylonians.« But Irijah would not listen to him. Irijah arrested Jeremiah and took him to the officials.

nsb@Jeremiah:37:15 @ The officials were so angry with Jeremiah that they beat him and put him in prison in the scribe Jonathan's house, which had been turned into a prison.

nsb@Jeremiah:37:16 @ Jeremiah went into a prison cell, and he stayed there a long time.

nsb@Jeremiah:37:17 @ Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah, and the king asked him privately in the palace: »Is there any message from Jehovah? Jeremiah answered: Yes! There is a message from Jehovah. You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.«

nsb@Jeremiah:37:18 @ Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah: »What crime have I committed against you, your administrators, or these people? Why have you put me in prison?

nsb@Jeremiah:37:19 @ »Where are the prophets who told you that the king of Babylon would not attack you and this land?

nsb@Jeremiah:37:20 @ »Your Majesty, please listen, and accept my plea for mercy. Do not return me to the scribe Jonathan's house, or I will die there.«

nsb@Jeremiah:37:21 @ King Zedekiah gave the command to have Jeremiah put in the courtyard of the prison. He gave him a loaf of bread every day from the bakers' street until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the prison.