Jeremiah 37:20

20 And now, Your Majesty, I beg you to listen to me and do what I ask. Please do not send me back to the prison in Jonathan's house. If you do, I will surely die there."

Jeremiah 37:20 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 37:20

Therefore hear now, one pray thee, O my lord the king
When the prophet spoke in the name of the Lord, and the words of the Lord, it was with great boldness and majesty; but when he spoke for himself, and on his own behalf, it was with great submission, as it became a subject to his king; and whom he owns as his sovereign lord, though a wicked prince, and whose destruction he knew was at hand: let my supplication be accepted before thee;
or, "fall before thee": see ( Jeremiah 36:7 ) ; which was as follows: that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe;
but that he might be discharged from his confinement; or however be removed into another prison, not so uncomfortable and disagreeable as this man's house or prison was; and which perhaps was still the worse through his cruel and ill natured carriage to him; and which all together endangered his life: wherefore he adds, lest I die there;
for though he had continued there many days, yet the place was so exceedingly noisome, that he thought he could not long continue there, was he remanded back to it.

Jeremiah 37:20 In-Context

18 Then I asked, "What crime have I committed against you or your officials or this people, to make you put me in prison?
19 What happened to your prophets who told you that the king of Babylonia would not attack you or the country?
20 And now, Your Majesty, I beg you to listen to me and do what I ask. Please do not send me back to the prison in Jonathan's house. If you do, I will surely die there."
21 So King Zedekiah ordered me to be locked up in the palace courtyard. I stayed there, and each day I was given a loaf of bread from the bakeries until all the bread in the city was gone.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.