Jeremiah 37:2-12

2 But neither he nor his officials nor the people themselves paid a bit of attention to the Message God gave by Jeremiah the prophet.

3 However, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the priest, son of Maaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "Pray for us - pray hard! - to the Master, our God."

4 Jeremiah was still moving about freely among the people in those days. This was before he had been put in jail.

5 Pharaoh's army was marching up from Egypt. The Chaldeans fighting against Jerusalem heard that the Egyptians were coming and pulled back.

6 Then Jeremiah the prophet received this Message from God:

7 "I, the God of Israel, want you to give this Message to the king of Judah, who has just sent you to me to find out what he should do. Tell him, 'Get this: Pharaoh's army, which is on its way to help you, isn't going to stick it out. No sooner will they get here than they'll leave and go home to Egypt.

8 And then the Babylonians will come back and resume their attack, capture this city and burn it to the ground.

9 I, God, am telling you: Don't kid yourselves, reassuring one another, "The Babylonians will leave in a few days." I tell you, they aren't leaving.

10 Why, even if you defeated the entire attacking Chaldean army and all that was left were a few wounded soldiers in their tents, the wounded would still do the job and burn this city to the ground.'"

11 When the Chaldean army pulled back from Jerusalem,

12 Jeremiah left Jerusalem to go over to the territory of Benjamin to take care of some personal business.

Jeremiah 37:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JEREMIAH 37

This chapter makes mention of the reign of Zedekiah, and what happened in it; of his message to Jeremiah, to pray for the kingdom; of the king of Babylonian's raising the siege of Jerusalem, on hearing the king of Egypt was coming to its relief; of the assurance the prophet gave that the Chaldean army would return again, and destroy the city; of the prophet's attempt to depart the city, his imprisonment, conversation with Zedekiah, and his clemency to him. A short account is given of Zedekiah, and of the disobedience of him and his people to the word of the Lord, Jer 37:1,2; of the message sent by him to the prophet to pray for them, Jer 37:3; the time, when Jeremiah was at liberty, and the siege of Jerusalem was raised, Jer 37:4,5; the prophet's answer to them from the Lord, assuring them the Chaldeans would return and burn the city, Jer 37:6-10; the prophet attempting to go out of the city is stopped, and charged as a deserter to the Chaldeans; is had before the princes, and beat and imprisoned, Jer 37:11-15; but the king sending for him out of prison, and having some private discourse with him, upon the prophet's expostulation and intercession, his confinement was mitigated, and bread allowed him, Jer 37:16-21.