1 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon replaced Jehoiachin* “Jehoiachin”: here called “Coniah.” son of Jehoiakim with Zedekiah son of Josiah as the ruling king of Judah. 2 But Zedekiah and his officers and everyone else in the country refused to obey what the Lord had said through Jeremiah the prophet.

3 However, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal† Or “Jucal.” Jeremiah 38:1. son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the priest, son of Maaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet with the message, “Please pray to the Lord our God for us!”

4 (At this time Jeremiah could come and go freely, because as yet they hadn't put him in prison.)

5 Pharaoh's army was advancing from Egypt, and when the Babylonian army heard about it, they moved away from Jerusalem.

6 Then a message from the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet: 7 This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, instructs you to tell the king of Judah, who sent you to ask me for help: Look! Pharaoh's army, which set out to help you, is going to return home to Egypt. 8 Then the Babylonians will return and attack Jerusalem. They will capture it and burn it down.

9 This is what the Lord says: Don't fool yourselves by saying, “The Babylonians are gone for good,” because they're not! 10 In fact, even if you were able to kill the whole Babylonian army attacking you, leaving only wounded men in their tents, they would still get up and burn this city down.

11 When the Babylonian army moved away from Jerusalem because of the threat of Pharaoh's army, 12 Jeremiah was on his way out of Jerusalem to go to his home in the territory of Benjamin to claim his share of his family's property. 13 However, when he reached the Benjamin Gate, the guard captain, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, arrested him, saying, “You're defecting to the Babylonians!”

14 “That's not true,” Jeremiah replied. “I'm not defecting to the Babylonians!”

But Irijah refused to listen to him. He arrested Jeremiah and took him before the officers.‡ Probably the same officers mentioned in verse 2. 15 The officers were furious with Jeremiah. They had him beaten and locked up in the house of Jonathan the scribe, which had been turned into a prison. 16 Jeremiah was placed in a cell in the underground dungeon and was kept there for a long time.

17 Some while later King Zedekiah secretly sent for him and had him brought to the royal palace where he asked, “Is there a message from Lord for me?”

“Yes there is,” Jeremiah replied. “You are going to be handed over to the king of Babylon.”

18 Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah, “What wrong have I done to you or your servants or these people, for you to put me in prison? 19 Where are your prophets now, the ones who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon won't come and attack you and this country’? 20 Now please listen to me, my lord the king, and respond positively to my request. Don't send me back to prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe, otherwise I'll die there.”

21 King Zedekiah gave the order for Jeremiah to be held in the guard's courtyard and be provided with a loaf of bread every day from a bakery until there was no bread left in the city. So Jeremiah stayed in the guard's courtyard.