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11After the Babylonian army had withdrawn from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army, 12Jeremiah started to leave the city to go to the territory of Benjamin to get his share of the property among the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.
西底迦求耶利米代禱
1巴比倫王尼布甲尼撒立約西亞的兒子西底迦代替約雅敬的兒子哥尼雅做猶大王。 2西底迦和他的臣僕及人民卻沒有聽從耶和華藉耶利米先知說的話。 3西底迦王派示利米雅的兒子猶甲和瑪西雅的兒子祭司西番雅來對耶利米先知說：「求你為我們向我們的上帝耶和華禱告。」 4當時，耶利米還可以在百姓中自由來往，因為他還沒有被囚在獄中。 5那時，法老的軍隊已從埃及出發，正在圍攻耶路撒冷的迦勒底人聽見消息就退兵了。
6耶和華對耶利米先知說： 7「以色列的上帝耶和華這樣說，『猶大王派你們來求問我，你們告訴他：前來支援你們的法老軍隊必返回本國埃及， 8而迦勒底人必捲土重來，攻佔這城，將它付之一炬。 9耶和華說，你們不要自欺，以為迦勒底人必撤軍。其實他們不會撤軍。 10即使你們能打敗迦勒底全軍，他們營中受傷的殘兵也必起來燒毀這城。』」
11當迦勒底人因害怕法老的軍隊而從耶路撒冷撤軍的時候， 12耶利米起身離開耶路撒冷，前往便雅憫境內去接收他在同族中應得的地業。 13當耶利米先知來到便雅憫門時，哈拿尼亞的孫子、示利米雅的兒子守門官伊利雅逮捕了他，說：「你想去投奔迦勒底人！」 14耶利米說：「胡說，我不是去投奔迦勒底人。」但伊利雅不信，就把他抓起來押到眾官長那裡。 15官長們大怒，命人打耶利米，把他囚禁在書記約拿單的房子裡，因為他們已把這房子改作監牢。 16耶利米被囚禁在地牢中許多天。
17後來，西底迦王派人把他帶到自己的宮中，私下問他：「耶和華有什麼話給你嗎？」耶利米說：「有，你要被交在巴比倫王手中。」 18耶利米又問他：「我在什麼事上得罪了你、你的臣僕或人民，以致你們把我囚在監牢中？ 19那些曾向你們預言『巴比倫王絕不會來這裡攻打你們』的先知如今在哪裡呢？ 20現在，我主我王啊，請恩准我的懇求！求你不要把我送回書記約拿單的房子，免得我死在那裡。」
21於是，西底迦王下令把耶利米囚在護衛的院子裡，派人每天從餅鋪取一個餅給他，直到城中絕糧。耶利米就這樣住在護衛的院子裡。
