Jeremiah 37
Introduction
Jeremiah 37 marks the beginning of a sustained narrative section (chapters 37--44) that chronicles the final days of Jerusalem before and after its fall to Babylon in 586 BC. The chapter is set during the reign of Zedekiah, Judah's last king, whom Nebuchadnezzar had installed as a puppet ruler after deposing Jehoiachin (here called Coniah). Despite witnessing the fulfillment of Jeremiah's earlier warnings, Zedekiah and his court refuse to heed the prophet's word. The chapter opens with an editorial note about Zedekiah's disobedience, then records a brief interlude of false hope when Pharaoh Hophra's Egyptian army marches north, causing the Babylonians to temporarily lift the siege of Jerusalem.
The respite proves short-lived. God sends word through Jeremiah that the Egyptians will retreat and the Chaldeans will return. When Jeremiah attempts to leave the city during the lull in fighting -- apparently to attend to a property matter in Benjamin -- he is arrested at the gate on charges of desertion to the enemy and thrown into a dungeon. The chapter closes with a poignant private audience between king and prophet: Zedekiah, desperate for a word from God yet unwilling to act on it, secretly summons Jeremiah and hears again that he will be handed over to Babylon. Jeremiah's plea for better prison conditions reveals his humanity, and Zedekiah's partial mercy -- transferring him to the courtyard of the guard -- reveals a king caught between fear of his officials and a guilty awareness that the prophet speaks truth.
Zedekiah's Reign and Disobedience (vv. 1--2)
1 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made Zedekiah son of Josiah the king of Judah, and he reigned in place of Coniah son of Jehoiakim. 2 But he and his officers and the people of the land refused to obey the words that the LORD had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.
1 Zedekiah son of Josiah reigned as king, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had made him king in the land of Judah in place of Coniah son of Jehoiakim. 2 But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the LORD that he spoke through Jeremiah the prophet.
Notes
The opening verses function as a historical summary that sets the stage for everything that follows. Zedekiah was the third son of the reforming king Josiah to sit on the throne (after Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim), placed there by Nebuchadnezzar after the deportation of Jehoiachin/Coniah in 597 BC (see 2 Kings 24:17). The name צִדְקִיָּהוּ means "the LORD is my righteousness" -- a deeply ironic name for a king who consistently failed to act righteously.
The name כָּנְיָהוּ (Coniah) is a shortened form of Jeconiah/Jehoiachin. Jeremiah's earlier oracle against him (Jeremiah 22:24-30) declared that none of his descendants would prosper on the throne, a prophecy that gave theological weight to Zedekiah's installation.
The verb שָׁמַע ("to hear, to listen, to obey") in verse 2 carries the full covenantal weight of obedience, not merely acoustic hearing. The triple subject -- king, servants, and people of the land -- indicates that the failure was total: every level of Judean society rejected the prophetic word. The phrase בְּיַד יִרְמְיָהוּ ("by the hand of Jeremiah") is the standard formula indicating prophetic mediation (cf. Jeremiah 50:1, Haggai 1:1).
Zedekiah Sends a Delegation to Jeremiah (v. 3)
3 Yet King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah, along with the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet with this message: "Please pray to the LORD our God for us."
3 Yet King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "Please pray on our behalf to the LORD our God."
Notes
Despite the blanket statement of disobedience in verse 2, Zedekiah sends a delegation to Jeremiah requesting intercessory prayer. This is one of several instances where Zedekiah shows a conflicted awareness that Jeremiah speaks for God, even though he lacks the courage to act on it (compare Jeremiah 21:1-2, where a similar delegation is sent earlier in the siege). The request הִתְפַּלֶּל נָא בַעֲדֵנוּ ("please pray on our behalf") uses the hitpael of פלל, the standard word for intercessory prayer.
Jehucal (also called Jucal) will reappear in Jeremiah 38:1 as one of the officials who demand Jeremiah's death. Zephaniah son of Maaseiah served as a senior priest and appears also in Jeremiah 29:25-29, where he received a letter from the false prophet Shemaiah demanding that Jeremiah be put in stocks. His inclusion in the delegation may suggest that Zedekiah wanted both a political and a religious representative.
The Egyptian Army and the LORD's Warning (vv. 4--10)
4 Now Jeremiah was free to come and go among the people, for they had not yet put him in prison. 5 Pharaoh's army had left Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report, they withdrew from Jerusalem.
6 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet: 7 "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says that you are to tell the king of Judah, who sent you to Me: Behold, Pharaoh's army, which has marched out to help you, will go back to its own land of Egypt. 8 Then the Chaldeans will return and fight against this city. They will capture it and burn it down.
9 This is what the LORD says: Do not deceive yourselves by saying, 'The Chaldeans will go away for good,' for they will not! 10 Indeed, if you were to strike down the entire army of the Chaldeans that is fighting against you, and only wounded men remained in their tents, they would still get up and burn this city down."
4 Now Jeremiah was still going in and out among the people, for they had not yet put him in prison. 5 Meanwhile, the army of Pharaoh had come out of Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the news about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.
6 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, saying: 7 "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Say this to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of me: 'See, the army of Pharaoh that has come out to help you is going to return to its own land, to Egypt. 8 And the Chaldeans will come back and fight against this city. They will capture it and burn it with fire.'
9 Thus says the LORD: 'Do not deceive yourselves, saying, "The Chaldeans will surely go away from us," for they will not go away. 10 For even if you struck down the entire army of the Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and there remained among them only men pierced through, each in his tent they would rise and burn this city with fire.'"
Notes
Verse 4 provides a crucial timeline marker: Jeremiah was still free at this point, moving among the population. The phrase בָּא וְיֹצֵא ("going in and out") is an idiom for normal daily movement and activity (cf. Deuteronomy 31:2, 1 Samuel 18:13).
The withdrawal of the Babylonians in verse 5 is a historically attested event. Pharaoh Hophra (Apries) of Egypt's 26th Dynasty launched a military expedition into the Levant around 588 BC, forcing the Babylonians to temporarily break the siege of Jerusalem. This raised wild hopes in the city -- precisely the kind of false confidence that God addresses through Jeremiah. The word חֵיל ("army, force") is used for both the Egyptian and Babylonian forces.
The warning in verse 9 is particularly sharp: אַל תַּשִּׁאוּ נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם, literally "do not lift up your souls" or "do not deceive yourselves." The verb נשׁא in the hiphil with נֶפֶשׁ ("soul, self") means to delude oneself, to entertain false hopes. It is a devastating accusation: the people are not merely mistaken but actively self-deceived.
Verse 10 contains one of the most striking hyperboles in the prophetic literature. Even if every Babylonian soldier were מְדֻקָּרִים -- "pierced through, run through" (from דקר, "to pierce, stab") -- mortally wounded and lying in their tents, they would still rise and burn Jerusalem. The point is that Jerusalem's fall is not contingent on Babylonian military strength; it is God's irrevocable decree. No military calculus can overturn divine judgment.
Jeremiah's Arrest at the Gate of Benjamin (vv. 11--15)
11 When the Chaldean army withdrew from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army, 12 Jeremiah started to leave Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to claim his portion there among the people. 13 But when he reached the Gate of Benjamin, the captain of the guard, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, seized him and said, "You are deserting to the Chaldeans!"
14 "That is a lie," Jeremiah replied. "I am not deserting to the Chaldeans!" But Irijah would not listen to him; instead, he arrested Jeremiah and took him to the officials.
15 The officials were angry with Jeremiah, and they beat him and placed him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for it had been made into a prison.
11 Now when the army of the Chaldeans withdrew from Jerusalem because of the army of Pharaoh, 12 Jeremiah went out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin, to receive his portion there among the people. 13 But when he was at the Gate of Benjamin, an officer on guard duty was there, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, and he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "You are deserting to the Chaldeans!"
14 Jeremiah said, "A lie! I am not deserting to the Chaldeans." But Irijah would not listen to him, and he seized Jeremiah and brought him to the officials.
15 The officials were furious with Jeremiah, and they beat him and put him in confinement in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for they had made it into a prison.
Notes
Jeremiah's attempt to travel to Benjamin during the lull in the siege is described with the verb לַחֲלִק, "to receive a portion" or "to divide property." This likely connects to his purchase of a field at Anathoth described in Jeremiah 32:6-15, which was itself a prophetic sign-act demonstrating confidence in the future restoration. Anathoth, Jeremiah's hometown, lay in Benjaminite territory just north of Jerusalem.
The accusation אֶל הַכַּשְׂדִּים אַתָּה נֹפֵל -- literally "you are falling to the Chaldeans" -- uses the verb נָפַל ("to fall") in the technical sense of defecting or deserting to the enemy (cf. Jeremiah 38:19, Jeremiah 39:9). Given that Jeremiah had been publicly urging surrender to Babylon as God's will (Jeremiah 21:9), the charge, while false in this instance, had a certain surface plausibility. Irijah's grandfather Hananiah may be the same false prophet who confronted Jeremiah in Jeremiah 28:1-17, which would give the arrest a personal dimension of family hostility.
Jeremiah's response is a single emphatic word: שֶׁקֶר -- "falsehood, a lie!" This is the same word Jeremiah uses repeatedly to characterize the false prophets and their messages (cf. Jeremiah 23:25-26). The irony is thick: the prophet who has spent his career denouncing falsehood is now falsely accused.
The שָׂרִים ("officials, princes") who beat Jeremiah and imprison him were the ruling elite of Jerusalem -- military commanders and senior bureaucrats who regarded the prophet as a traitor undermining the war effort. The house of Jonathan the scribe, converted into a makeshift prison, would have been a private residence with underground chambers. It is distinguished from the official חֲצַר הַמַּטָּרָה ("courtyard of the guard"), the more humane facility where Jeremiah will later be held.
Jeremiah in the Dungeon (v. 16)
16 So Jeremiah went into a cell in the dungeon and remained there a long time.
16 When Jeremiah had come into the pit-house, into the vaulted cells, Jeremiah remained there many days.
Notes
The Hebrew is more vivid than most English translations suggest. The word בּוֹר means "pit, cistern" -- the same word used for the cistern into which Jeremiah will be thrown in Jeremiah 38:6 and the same word used for the pit into which Joseph was cast by his brothers (Genesis 37:24). The חֲנֻיוֹת ("vaulted cells, arched rooms") describes underground chambers, perhaps originally storage vaults beneath the scribe's house. The picture is of a dark, subterranean dungeon. The concluding phrase יָמִים רַבִּים ("many days") leaves the duration deliberately vague but implies a prolonged period of suffering.
Zedekiah's Secret Consultation with Jeremiah (vv. 17--21)
17 Later, King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah and received him in his palace, where he asked him privately, "Is there a word from the LORD?" "There is," Jeremiah replied. "You will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon."
18 Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah, "How have I sinned against you or your servants or these people, that you have put me in prison? 19 Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, claiming, 'The king of Babylon will not come against you or this land'? 20 But now please listen, O my lord the king. May my petition come before you. Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I will die there."
21 So King Zedekiah gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread daily from the street of the bakers, until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.
17 Then King Zedekiah sent and took him out, and the king questioned him in secret in his palace. He said, "Is there a word from the LORD?" Jeremiah said, "There is." Then he said, "You will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon."
18 Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, "What wrong have I done to you, or to your servants, or to this people, that you have put me in prison? 19 Where now are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, 'The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land'? 20 Now please hear, my lord the king. Let my plea fall before you: do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I will die there."
21 So King Zedekiah gave orders, and they committed Jeremiah to the courtyard of the guard. And they gave him a round of bread each day from the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.
Notes
The scene between Zedekiah and Jeremiah is one of the most psychologically revealing in the Old Testament. The king summons the prophet בַּסֵּתֶר -- "in secret" -- because he fears his own officials. The question הֲיֵשׁ דָּבָר מֵאֵת יְהוָה ("Is there a word from the LORD?") reveals that Zedekiah knows where true prophecy resides, even though he is politically unable or personally unwilling to act on it. This tragic pattern -- knowing the truth but being paralyzed by fear -- defines Zedekiah throughout these final chapters.
Jeremiah's answer is devastatingly brief: יֵשׁ -- "There is." Then the verdict: בְּיַד מֶלֶךְ בָּבֶל תִּנָּתֵן -- "You will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon." The niphal passive of נתן ("to give") emphasizes that this is God's action; it is God who hands Zedekiah over. The message has not changed from Jeremiah 21:7 or Jeremiah 34:3.
Jeremiah's appeal in verses 18--20 blends prophetic authority with human vulnerability. His question מֶה חָטָאתִי ("what have I sinned?") echoes the language of innocence protests in the Psalms (cf. Psalm 35:11, 1 Samuel 26:18). His challenge about the false prophets -- "Where are they now?" -- is pointed: events have vindicated Jeremiah and discredited those who predicted Babylon would never come. The word תְּחִנָּה ("petition, plea for mercy") in verse 20 shows the prophet placing himself at the king's mercy for his physical survival.
Zedekiah's response is characteristically half-hearted: he transfers Jeremiah to the חֲצַר הַמַּטָּרָה ("courtyard of the guard"), an open-air military detention area within the palace compound -- a significant improvement over the dungeon but still imprisonment. The daily provision of כִכַּר לֶחֶם ("a round loaf of bread") from the חוּץ הָאֹפִים ("bakers' street") is a small mercy, but the narrator's grim note -- "until all the bread in the city was gone" -- foreshadows the terrible famine that would grip Jerusalem in its final months (cf. Jeremiah 52:6, Lamentations 4:4-5).
Interpretations
Zedekiah's character has been assessed differently across interpretive traditions. Some commentators emphasize his genuine but tragic inability to resist the political pressure of his officials, reading him as a weak but somewhat sympathetic figure who recognized the truth but could not act on it. Others stress his moral culpability: he was the king, he had the authority to obey God's word, and his failure to do so was not merely weakness but willful disobedience. The text seems to sustain both readings simultaneously -- Zedekiah is both pitiable and blameworthy. His situation illustrates the broader biblical principle that knowing the right thing to do and failing to do it is itself sin (James 4:17).