Jeremiah 37

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 Zedekiah son of Josiah became king, succeeding Coniah son of Jehoiakim. Nebuchadnezzar king ofBabylon had made him king of Judah.	1 Now king Sedecias the son of Josias reigned instead of Jechonias the son of Joakim: whom Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon made king in the land of Juda.
2 But neither he nor his courtiers nor the people of the country paid any attention to the words Yahwehspoke through the prophet Jeremiah.	2 But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land did obey the words of the Lord, that he spoke in the hand of Jeremias the prophet.
3 King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to the prophetJeremiah with this message, 'Intercede for us with Yahweh our God.'	3 And king Sedecias sent Juchal the son of Selemias, and Sophonias the son of Maasias the priest to Jeremias the prophet, saying: Pray to the Lord our God for us.
4 Now Jeremiah was still moving freely among the people: he had not yet been put in prison.	4 Now Jeremias walked freely in the midst of the people r for they had not as yet cast him into prison. And the army of Pharao was come out of Egypt: and the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem, hearing these tidings, departed from Jerusalem.
5 Meanwhile Pharaoh's army was on the move from Egypt and the Chaldaeans besieging Jerusalem hadraised the siege when they heard the news.	5 And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias the prophet, saying:
6 Then the word of Yahweh came to the prophet Jeremiah as fol ows,	6 Thus saith the Lord the God of Israel: Thus shall you say to the king of Juda, who sent you to inquire of me: Behold the army of Pharao, which is come forth to help you, shall return into their own land, into Egypt.
7 'Yahweh, God of Israel, says this, "To the king of Judah who sent you to consult me make this reply: IsPharaoh's army marching to your aid? It wil withdraw to its own country, Egypt.	7 And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire.
8 The Chaldaeans wil return to attack this city; they will capture it and burn it down.	8 Thus saith the Lord: Deceive not your souls, saying: The Chaldeans shall surely depart and go away from us: for they shall not go away;
9 Yahweh says this: Do not cheer yourselves up by thinking: The Chaldaeans are leaving us for good.They are not leaving.	9 But if you should even beat al: the army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there should be left of them some wounded men: they shall rise up, every man from his tent, and burn this city with Are.
10 Even if you cut to pieces the whole Chaldaean army now fighting against you until there were only thewounded left, they would stand up again, each man in his tent, to burn this city down." '	10 Now when the army of the Chaldeans was gone away from Jerusalem, because of Pharao's army,
11 At the time when the Chaldaean army, threatened by Pharaoh's army, had raised the siege ofJerusalem,	11 Jeremias went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin: and to divide a possession there in the presence of the citizens.
12 Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem for the territory of Benjamin to see about a piece of his propertyamong the people there.	12 And when he was come to the gate of Benjamin, the captain of the gate, who I was there in his turn, was one named Jerias, the son of Selemias, the son of Hananias: and he took hold of Jeremias the prophet, saying: Thou art fleeing to the Chaldeans.
13 He was at the Benjamin Gate when the guard commander there, a certain Irijah son of Shelemiah,son of Hananiah, arrested the prophet Jeremiah, shouting, 'You are deserting to the Chaldaeans!'	13 And Jeremias answered: It is not so, I am not fleeing to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him: so Jerias took Jeremias and brought him to the princes.
14 Jeremiah answered, 'It is a lie! I am not deserting to the Chaldaeans.' But Irijah would not listen toJeremiah and took him under arrest to the chief men.	14 Wherefore the princes were angry with Jeremias, and they beat him, and cast him into the prison that was in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for he was chief over the prison.
15 And the chief men, furious with Jeremiah, had him beaten and shut up in the house of the scribeJonathan, which had been turned into a prison.	15 So Jeremias went into the house of the prison, and into the dungeon: and Jeremias remained there many days.
16 Thus Jeremiah found himself in an underground vault. And there for a long time he stayed.	16 Then Sedecias the king, sending, took him: and asked him secretly in his house, and said: Is there, thinkest thou, any word from the Lord? And Jeremias said: There is. And he said: Thou shalt be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.
17 Later, King Zedekiah had him sent for, and the king questioned him privately in his palace. 'Is thereany word from Yahweh?' he asked. 'There is,' Jeremiah answered, and added, 'you wil be handed over to theking of Babylon.'	17 And Jeremias said to king Sedecias: In what have I offended against thee, or thy servants, or thy people, that thou hast cast me into prison?
18 Jeremiah then said to King Zedekiah, 'What wrong have I done you, or your courtiers or this people,for you to have put me in prison?	18 Where are your prophets that prophesied to you, and said: The king of Babylon shall not come against you, and against this land?
19 Where are your prophets now who prophesied, "The king of Babylon wil not attack you or thiscountry"?	19 Now therefore hear, I beseech thee, my lord the king: let my petition be accepted in thy sight: and send me not back into the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.
20 So now I beg you to hear me, my lord king! I beg you to approve my request! Do not have me takenback to the house of the scribe Jonathan, or I shall die there.'	20 Then king Sedecias commanded that Jeremias should be committed into the entry of the prison: and that they should give him daily a piece of bread, beside broth, till all the bread in the city were spent: and Jeremias remained in the entry of the prison.
21 King Zedekiah then gave an order, and Jeremiah was confined in the Court of the Guard and given aloaf of bread a day from the Street of the Bakers as long as there was bread left in the city. So Jeremiah stayedin the Court of the Guard.