Jeremiah 37

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Zedekiah son of Josiah became king, succeeding Coniah son of Jehoiakim. Nebuchadnezzar king ofBabylon had made him king of Judah.	1 And then king Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, reigned in place of Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim. For Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, appointed him as king in the land of Judah.
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 And neither he himself, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, obeyed the words of the Lord, which he spoke by the hand of Jeremiah, 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 Zedekiah sent Jehucal, the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah, the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to Jeremiah 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 Jeremiah was walking freely in the midst of the people. For they had not yet sent him into the custody of the prison. And then the army of Pharaoh went forth from Egypt. And hearing this, the Chaldeans, who were besieging Jerusalem, withdrew 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 Jeremiah the prophet, saying:
6 Then the word of Yahweh came to the prophet Jeremiah as fol ows,	6 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: So shall you say to the king of Judah, who sent you to question me: Behold, the army of Pharaoh, which has gone forth in assistance to you, will return to 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 will return and will make war against this city. And they will seize 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 says the Lord: Do not be willing to deceive your own souls, saying: ‘The Chaldeans will certainly withdraw and go away from us.’ For they will 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 even if you were to strike down the entire army of the Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and if there were left behind from among them only a few wounded men, they would rise up, each one from his tent, and they would burn this city with fire.”
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 Therefore, when the army of the Chaldeans had withdrawn from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army,
11 At the time when the Chaldaean army, threatened by Pharaoh's army, had raised the siege ofJerusalem,	11 Jeremiah went forth from Jerusalem, to go into the land of Benjamin, and to distribute a possession there, in the sight 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 had arrived at the gate of Benjamin, the keeper of the gate, whose turn it was to be there, was named Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah. And he apprehended Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “You are 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 Jeremiah responded: “That is false. I am not fleeing to the Chaldeans.” But he did not listen to him. And so Irijah took Jeremiah, and he brought him to the leaders.
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 Therefore, the leaders were angry with Jeremiah, and so they beat him and sent him to the prison that was in the house of Jonathan, the scribe. For he was the 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 And so Jeremiah went into the house of the prison and into a dungeon. And Jeremiah sat there for many days.
16 Thus Jeremiah found himself in an underground vault. And there for a long time he stayed.	16 Then Zedekiah the king, sending, took him out and questioned him secretly in his house, and he said: “Do you think that there is any word from the Lord?” And Jeremiah said: “There is.” And he said: “You will 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 Jeremiah said to king Zedekiah: “How have I sinned against you, or your servants, or your people, such that you would cast me into a house of imprisonment?
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, who were prophesying to you, and who were saying: ‘The king of Babylon will not overwhelm you and this land?’
19 Where are your prophets now who prophesied, "The king of Babylon wil not attack you or thiscountry"?	19 Now therefore, listen, I beg you, my lord the king. Let my petition prevail in your sight. And do not send me 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 Zedekiah instructed that Jeremiah be confined to the vestibule of the prison, and that they should give him a twist of bread daily, along with stew, until all the bread in the city had been consumed. And Jeremiah remained at the entrance 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.