西底迦求耶利米代祷
1巴比伦王尼布甲尼撒立约西亚的儿子西底迦代替约雅敬的儿子哥尼雅做犹大王。 2西底迦和他的臣仆及人民却没有听从耶和华借耶利米先知说的话。 3西底迦王派示利米雅的儿子犹甲和玛西雅的儿子祭司西番雅来对耶利米先知说：“求你为我们向我们的上帝耶和华祷告。” 4当时，耶利米还可以自由来往，没有被他们囚在狱中。 5那时，法老的军队已从埃及出发，正在围攻耶路撒冷的迦勒底人听见消息就退兵了。
6耶和华对耶利米先知说： 7“这是以色列的上帝耶和华的话，‘犹大王派你们来求问我，你们告诉他，前来支援你们的法老军队必中途返回埃及， 8而迦勒底人必卷土重来，攻占这城，将它付之一炬。 9耶和华说，你们不要自欺，以为迦勒底人必撤军。其实他们不会撤军。 10即使你们能打败迦勒底全军，他们营中受伤的残兵也必起来烧毁这城。’”
11当迦勒底人因害怕法老的军队而撤军的时候， 12耶利米起身离开耶路撒冷，前往便雅悯境内去接收他在同族中应得的地业。 13当耶利米先知来到便雅悯门时，哈拿尼亚的孙子、示利米雅的儿子守门官伊利雅逮捕了他，说：“你想去投奔迦勒底人！” 14耶利米说：“不，我不是去投奔迦勒底人。”但伊利雅不信，把他押到众官长那里。 15官长们大怒，命人鞭打耶利米，把他囚禁在书记约拿单的房子里，因为他们已把这房子改作监牢。 16耶利米被囚禁在地牢中许多天。
17后来，西底迦王派人把他带到自己的宫中，私下问他：“耶和华有什么话给你吗？”耶利米说：“有，你要被交在巴比伦王手中。” 18耶利米又问他：“我在什么事上得罪了你、你的臣仆或人民，以致你们把我囚在监牢中？ 19那些曾向你们预言‘巴比伦王绝不会来这里攻打你们’的先知如今在哪里呢？ 20现在，我主我王啊，请听我说！求你不要把我送回书记约拿单的房子，免得我死在那里。”
21于是，西底迦王下令把耶利米囚在护卫兵的院子里，派人每天从饼铺取一个饼给他，直到城中绝粮。耶利米就这样住在护卫兵的院子里。
Jeremiah in Prison
1Zedekiah son of Josiah was made king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; he reigned in place of Jehoiachin37:1 Hebrew Koniah, a variant of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim. 2Neither he nor his attendants nor the people of the land paid any attention to the words the Lord had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.
3King Zedekiah, however, sent Jehukal son of Shelemiah with the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah the prophet with this message: “Please pray to the Lord our God for us.”
4Now Jeremiah was free to come and go among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison. 5Pharaoh’s army had marched out of Egypt, and when the Babylonians37:5 Or Chaldeans; also in verses 8, 9, 13 and 14 who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.
6Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet: 7“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of me, ‘Pharaoh’s army, which has marched out to support you, will go back to its own land, to Egypt. 8Then the Babylonians will return and attack this city; they will capture it and burn it down.’
9“This is what the Lord says: Do not deceive yourselves, thinking, ‘The Babylonians will surely leave us.’ They will not! 10Even if you were to defeat the entire Babylonian37:10 Or Chaldean; also in verse 11 army that is attacking you and only wounded men were left in their tents, they would come out and burn this city down.”
11After the Babylonian army had withdrawn from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army, 12Jeremiah started to leave the city to go to the territory of Benjamin to get his share of the property among the people there. 13But when he reached the Benjamin Gate, the captain of the guard, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, arrested him and said, “You are deserting to the Babylonians!”
14“That’s not true!” Jeremiah said. “I am not deserting to the Babylonians.” But Irijah would not listen to him; instead, he arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. 15They were angry with Jeremiah and had him beaten and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the secretary, which they had made into a prison.
16Jeremiah was put into a vaulted cell in a dungeon, where he remained a long time. 17Then King Zedekiah sent for him and had him brought to the palace, where he asked him privately, “Is there any word from the Lord?”
“Yes,” Jeremiah replied, “you will be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.”
18Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “What crime have I committed against you or your attendants or this people, that you have put me in prison? 19Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, ‘The king of Babylon will not attack you or this land’? 20But now, my lord the king, please listen. Let me bring my petition before you: Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary, or I will die there.”
21King Zedekiah then gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread from the street of the bakers each day until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.
