Jeremiah 37 opens with Zedekiah's installation as king by Nebuchadnezzar, noting immediately that neither the king nor his officials heeded the LORD's words through Jeremiah. When a temporary Egyptian military advance causes the Chaldeans to lift the siege of Jerusalem, Zedekiah sends a delegation asking Jeremiah to pray for the nation. The LORD's response is blunt: Egypt will retreat and the Chaldeans will return and burn the city. Jeremiah attempts to leave Jerusalem to claim a property inheritance in Benjamin, is arrested at the Benjamin Gate, accused of deserting to the Chaldeans, beaten, and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the scribe. After many days in the dungeon, Zedekiah secretly summons Jeremiah to ask: 'Is there any word from the LORD?' Jeremiah's answer is unchanged: 'You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.' Jeremiah then pleads not to be sent back to Jonathan's dungeon, and Zedekiah transfers him to the court of the guard with a daily ration of bread.
What Makes This Chapter Remarkable
This chapter captures the paradox at the heart of Zedekiah's reign — a king who cannot stop consulting the prophet he cannot bring himself to obey. Zedekiah's secret question, 'Is there any word from the LORD?' (hayesh davar me'et YHWH, v. 17), is one of the most poignant moments in the book: a man who desperately wants a different answer but keeps asking a prophet who will not give him one. The temporary Egyptian relief (v. 5) creates a false hope that Jeremiah's prophecy has failed — but God immediately corrects this, declaring that even if the Chaldean army were reduced to wounded men lying in their tents, they would still rise and burn Jerusalem (v. 10). This hyperbolic statement underscores that Jerusalem's destruction is a divine decree, not a military calculation. Jeremiah's arrest on charges of desertion (v. 13) is bitterly ironic: the prophet who told others to surrender is accused of surrendering himself. The dungeon of Jonathan the scribe (beit ha-bor) is described in language suggesting a cistern-pit within a house, anticipating the literal cistern of chapter 38.
Translation Friction
The verb nachal in verse 12 is debated — it may mean 'to receive a portion' (inheritance division), 'to slip away,' or 'to conduct business.' We rendered it as 'to claim his portion' following the context of property division among kinspeople, which connects to Jeremiah's land purchase in chapter 32. The phrase 'falling away to the Chaldeans' (nofel el ha-kasdim, v. 13) uses the participle of nafal ('to fall'), a technical term in this period for military desertion — we rendered it 'deserting to the Chaldeans' to capture the military accusation. Zedekiah's request in verse 21 for daily bread from 'the bakers' street' (chuts ha-ofim) is a specific topographic detail — we preserved this as a place name rather than a generic description.
Connections
Zedekiah's secret consultation with Jeremiah connects to 21:1-7 (his first inquiry) and anticipates 38:14-28 (his final meeting). The Egyptian army's approach and withdrawal echoes Ezekiel 17:15-17, where Ezekiel independently condemns Zedekiah's alliance with Egypt. The charge of desertion against Jeremiah parallels the charge against the soldiers in 38:19 and 39:9. Jeremiah's plea for his life (v. 20) echoes the petition form found in the Psalms of individual lament. The transfer to the court of the guard (chatsar ha-mattarah) positions Jeremiah for the events of chapters 38 and 39.
King Zedekiah son of Josiah reigned in place of Coniah son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had installed as king in the land of Judah.
KJV And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The Hebrew himlikh ('caused to reign, installed') emphasizes that Zedekiah's kingship was Nebuchadnezzar's doing — he is a vassal, not a sovereign. 'Coniah' (Konyahu) is the shortened form of Jeconiah/Jehoiachin, who reigned only three months before being deported (2 Kings 24:8-17). We rendered himlikh as 'installed' rather than the KJV's 'made king' to highlight the political reality of puppet kingship.
But neither he, nor his officials, nor the people of the land listened to the words of the LORD that he spoke through the prophet Jeremiah.
KJV But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of the LORD, which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The phrase be-yad ('by the hand of') is the standard idiom for prophetic mediation — God's words come 'through' or 'by the hand of' the prophet. The indictment covers three levels of society: king, court officials (avadav, literally 'his servants'), and the common people (am ha-arets). All three are culpable.
King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, "Please pray to the LORD our God on our behalf."
KJV And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now unto the LORD our God for us.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The delegation includes both a court official (Jehucal) and a priest (Zephaniah son of Maaseiah), representing both civil and religious authority. Jehucal reappears in 38:1 as one of the officials who demand Jeremiah's death — his role shifts from supplicant to accuser. The request hitpallel-na ('please pray') uses the polite particle na, revealing desperation beneath the royal dignity.
At that time Jeremiah was still moving freely among the people, for they had not yet placed him in the prison.
KJV Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people: for they had not put him into prison.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The narrative provides a temporal marker: Jeremiah still had freedom of movement — 'coming and going' (ba vayotse) is a Hebrew idiom for unrestricted daily activity. The word keliy ('prison, place of confinement') anticipates the imprisonments that follow in this chapter and the next.
Meanwhile, Pharaoh's army had marched out of Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report, they withdrew from Jerusalem.
KJV Then Pharaoh's army was come forth out of Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The Pharaoh is Hophra (Apries, r. 589–570 BCE), mentioned by name in 44:30. His military expedition created temporary relief for Jerusalem and false hope that the siege was over. The verb va-ye'alu ('they went up,' i.e., 'withdrew') indicates a tactical retreat, not a defeat — the Chaldeans pulled back to deal with the Egyptian threat. The word shim'am ('their report, the news of them') is a cognate accusative construction emphasizing the hearing of intelligence.
This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: This is what you are to say to the king of Judah, who sent you to consult me — Pharaoh's army, which has marched out to help you, will return to its own land, to Egypt.
KJV Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to enquire of me; Behold, Pharaoh's army, which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb lidrosheni ('to consult me, to seek me out') is the standard verb for seeking a prophetic oracle. God addresses the delegation rather than Zedekiah directly — the answer must pass through the same mediators who brought the question. The emphatic announcement that Egypt will retreat demolishes the political calculation behind Zedekiah's revolt.
The Chaldeans will return and attack this city. They will capture it and burn it with fire.
KJV And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Three verbs in rapid succession — return, capture, burn — create a compressed military narrative of Jerusalem's inevitable fate. The finality of the sequence leaves no room for negotiation or alternative outcomes. The verb saraf ('burn') foreshadows the literal burning of the temple and city described in 52:13.
This is what the LORD says: Do not deceive yourselves by thinking, 'The Chaldeans will surely leave us.' They will not leave.
KJV Thus saith the LORD; Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The idiom al tashshi'u nafshoteikhem (literally 'do not lift up your souls') means 'do not delude yourselves' or 'do not raise false hopes.' We rendered it as 'do not deceive yourselves' to capture the self-deception God warns against. The infinitive absolute halokh yelekhu ('going they will go,' i.e., 'surely leave') expresses the people's confident expectation, which God flatly denies.
For even if you were to strike down the entire Chaldean army fighting against you and only wounded men remained among them, each lying in his tent — they would still rise up and burn this city with fire.
KJV For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
This is one of the most striking hyperbolic statements in the prophets: even a Chaldean army reduced entirely to wounded men would still carry out God's decree against Jerusalem. The word meduqqarim ('pierced, wounded') describes men run through with weapons, barely alive. The point is theological, not military — Jerusalem's fall is divinely ordained and no human calculation can prevent it.
Now when the Chaldean army had withdrawn from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh's army,
KJV And it came to pass, that when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army,
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The temporal clause sets the scene for Jeremiah's arrest. The verb he'alot ('going up, withdrawing') is the same used in verse 5 for the Chaldean withdrawal, creating narrative cohesion. The withdrawal was tactical — because of (mippenei, literally 'from before the face of') Pharaoh's approaching forces.
Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to the territory of Benjamin, to claim his portion there among the people.
KJV Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to separate himself thence in the midst of the people.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb lachaloq ('to divide, to receive a portion') is debated. The KJV's 'to separate himself' misses the likely meaning: Jeremiah was going to handle a property matter — the division or claiming of an inheritance among his kinspeople in Anathoth (in Benjamin). This connects to his purchase of the field in chapter 32. The phrase betokh ha-am ('among the people') indicates he was participating in a communal property distribution, not fleeing.
When he reached the Benjamin Gate, the officer of the guard stationed there — a man named Irijah son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah — seized the prophet Jeremiah, saying, "You are deserting to the Chaldeans!"
KJV And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans.
Notes & Key Terms
1 term
Key Terms
נֹפֵלnofel
"deserting"—falling, falling over, going over to, deserting, defecting
The participle of nafal ('to fall') became technical vocabulary for wartime defection — 'falling' from one side to another. Jeremiah had used this very word in his own prophecies about those who would 'fall' to the Chaldeans (21:9).
Translator Notes
The phrase nofel el ha-kasdim ('falling to the Chaldeans') is the technical term for military desertion in wartime, literally 'falling over' to the enemy side. The accusation was plausible on the surface because Jeremiah had publicly urged surrender (21:9, 38:2). The ba'al pequddut ('master of oversight') was a military officer responsible for controlling movement through the city gates during the siege. Irijah is identified by his grandfather Hananiah — possibly the same false prophet Hananiah of chapter 28, which would make the arrest personally vindictive.
Jeremiah said, "That is a lie! I am not deserting to the Chaldeans." But Irijah would not listen to him. He seized Jeremiah and brought him before the officials.
KJV Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him: so Irijah took Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Jeremiah's protest sheqer ('falsehood, lie') uses the same word he applies to the false prophets throughout the book (cf. navi sheqer, 'prophet of falsehood'). The irony is sharp: the prophet of truth is accused on the basis of a sheqer. The officials (sarim) are the royal court administrators who function as a judicial body during wartime.
The officials were furious with Jeremiah. They beat him and imprisoned him in the house of Jonathan the scribe, which they had converted into a prison.
KJV Wherefore the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the prison.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb vayiqtsefu ('they were furious') indicates a rage beyond judicial displeasure — this is personal hostility. The officials beat Jeremiah (hikku, from nakah, 'to strike') before any formal proceeding, indicating extrajudicial violence. Jonathan the scribe's house had been repurposed as a place of confinement (beit ha-kele), likely because the regular prison was overwhelmed during the siege. The conversion of a scribe's house into a dungeon symbolizes the perversion of literate, administrative order into instruments of oppression.
When Jeremiah had been placed in the pit-dungeon, in the vaulted cells, he remained there many days.
KJV When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon, and into the cabins, and Jeremiah had remained there many days;
Notes & Key Terms
1 term
Key Terms
בֵּית הַבּוֹרbeit ha-bor
"pit-dungeon"—house of the pit, dungeon, cistern-prison, underground cell
The bor ('pit, cistern') is frequently used for makeshift prisons in the ancient Near East. Joseph was thrown into a bor (Genesis 37:24), and Jeremiah will again be lowered into a bor in chapter 38. These were water-storage cisterns repurposed as holding cells — dark, wet, and often muddy.
Translator Notes
The beit ha-bor ('house of the pit') indicates an underground chamber — likely a cistern or cellar beneath the house, damp and dark. The chanuyyot ('vaulted cells, arched chambers') describes the specific architectural feature of the underground confinement: arched stone cells, cramped and suffocating. The phrase yamim rabbim ('many days') is deliberately vague, conveying an indefinite period of suffering.
Then King Zedekiah sent for him and had him brought out. The king questioned him secretly in his palace and asked, "Is there any word from the LORD?" Jeremiah answered, "There is." Then he said, "You will be handed over to the king of Babylon."
KJV Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took him out, and the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any word from the LORD? And Jeremiah said, There is: for, said he, thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The word basseter ('in secret') reveals Zedekiah's political cowardice — he cannot afford to be seen consulting Jeremiah, whom his officials have imprisoned. The question hayesh davar me'et YHWH ('Is there any word from the LORD?') is almost plaintive, as though the king hopes that confinement might have changed the prophet's message. Jeremiah's one-word answer yesh ('there is') precedes the devastating repetition of the same judgment he has delivered consistently: you will be handed over (tinnatein, niphal of natan) to Babylon.
Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, "What crime have I committed against you, or against your officials, or against this people, that you have put me in prison?
KJV Moreover Jeremiah said unto king Zedekiah, What have I offended against thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have put me in prison?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
The verb chatati ('I have sinned, offended') is from the root ch-t-a, the standard word for sin in Hebrew. Jeremiah turns the tables: if imprisonment is punishment, what is the offense? The threefold address — you, your officials, this people — mirrors the threefold indictment of verse 2, creating a structural parallel between the nation's guilt before God and the prophet's innocence before his accusers.
And where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, 'The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land'?
KJV Where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Jeremiah's rhetorical question is devastating: the false prophets who promised peace have been proven wrong by events. The word ayyeh ('where?') demands an accounting. The prophets who predicted no Babylonian invasion (cf. Hananiah in chapter 28) are conspicuously absent now that Nebuchadnezzar has arrived. Jeremiah does not need to argue his case — the siege itself vindicates him.
Now please hear me, my lord the king. Let my plea come before you: do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I will die there."
KJV Therefore hear now, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I pray thee, be accepted before thee; that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.
Notes & Key Terms
Translator Notes
Jeremiah addresses Zedekiah as adoni ha-melekh ('my lord the king'), the formal court address, showing proper deference even while protesting his treatment. The word techinnati ('my supplication, my plea') is from the root ch-n-n ('to be gracious, to show favor') — Jeremiah is asking for mercy from the king even as he delivers God's message of judgment. The warning velo amut sham ('or I will die there') is a plain statement that the conditions in Jonathan's dungeon are lethal.
So King Zedekiah gave orders, and they placed Jeremiah in the court of the guard. A loaf of bread was given to him daily from the Bakers' Street, until all the bread in the city was gone. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
KJV Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city were spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.
Notes & Key Terms
1 term
Key Terms
חֲצַר הַמַּטָּרָהchatsar ha-mattarah
"court of the guard"—guardhouse courtyard, prison yard, court of the watch
An open courtyard within the palace complex used for military guards. As a place of confinement it was far less severe than the underground dungeon — Jeremiah had light, air, and access to visitors (cf. 32:2, 8, 12; 33:1; 38:6, 13, 28).
Translator Notes
The chatsar ha-mattarah ('court of the guard') was an open courtyard attached to the royal palace where soldiers were garrisoned — a significant improvement over the underground dungeon. The chuts ha-ofim ('Bakers' Street') was a specific commercial lane in Jerusalem where bakers had their shops, mentioned only here in the Hebrew Bible. The detail 'until all the bread in the city was gone' foreshadows the famine conditions of the final siege (52:6). Zedekiah shows enough compassion to improve Jeremiah's conditions but not enough courage to release him or follow his counsel.