Jeremiah 37

2  Neither he nor his courtiers nor the people of the land gave heed to the words which Hashem spoke through the Navi Yirmiyahu.

3  Yet King Tzidkiyahu sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and Tzefanya son of the Kohen Maaseiah to the Navi Yirmiyahu, to say, “Please pray on our behalf to Hashem our God.”

4  (Yirmiyahu could still go in and out among the people, for they had not yet put him in prison.

5  The army of Pharaoh had set out from Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Yerushalayim heard the report, they raised the siege of Yerushalayim.)

6  Then the word of Hashem came to the Navi Yirmiyahu:

7  Thus said Hashem, the God of Yisrael: Thus shall you say to the king of Yehuda who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: “The army of Pharaoh, which set out to help you, will return to its own land, to Egypt.

8  And the Chaldeans will come back and attack this city and they will capture it and destroy it by fire.”

9  Thus said Hashem: Do not delude yourselves into thinking, “The Chaldeans will go away from us.” They will not.

10  Even if you defeated the whole army of the Chaldeans that are fighting against you, and only wounded men were left lying in their tents, they would get up and burn this city down!

11  When the army of the Chaldeans raised the siege of Yerushalayim on account of the army of Pharaoh,

13  When he got to the Binyamin Gate, there was a guard officer there named Irijah son of Shelemiah son of Chananya; and he arrested the Navi Yirmiyahu, saying, “You are defecting to the Chaldeans!”

14  Yirmiyahu answered, “That’s a lie! I’m not defecting to the Chaldeans!” But Irijah would not listen to him; he arrested Yirmiyahu and brought him to the officials.

15  The officials were furious with Yirmiyahu; they beat him and put him into prison, in the house of the scribe Yehonatan—for it had been made into a jail.

16  Thus Yirmiyahu came to the pit and the cells, and Yirmiyahu remained there a long time.

17  Then King Tzidkiyahu sent for him, and the king questioned him secretly in his palace. He asked, “Is there any word from Hashem?” “There is!” Yirmiyahu answered, and he continued, “You will be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.”

18  And Yirmiyahu said to King Tzidkiyahu, “What wrong have I done to you, to your courtiers, and to this people, that you have put me in jail?

19  And where are those Neviim of yours who prophesied to you that the king of Babylon would never move against you and against this land?

20  Now, please hear me, O lord king, and grant my plea: Don’t send me back to the house of the scribe Yehonatan to die there.”

21  So King Tzidkiyahu gave instructions to lodge Yirmiyahu in the prison compound and to supply him daily with a loaf of bread from the Bakers’ Street—until all the bread in the city was gone. Yirmiyahu remained in the prison compound.