21The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll and he fetched it from the chamber of the scribe Elishama. Jehudi read it to the king and to all the officials who were in attendance on the king. 22Since it was the ninth month, the king was sitting in the winter house, with a fire burning in the brazier before him. 23And every time Jehudi read three or four columns, [the king] would cut it up with a scribe’s knife and throw it into the fire in the brazier, until the entire scroll was consumed by the fire in the brazier. 24Yet the king and all his courtiers who heard all these words showed no fear and did not tear their garments; 25moreover, Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah begged the king not to burn the scroll, but he would not listen to them.
26The king ordered Jerahmeel, the king’s son, and Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest the scribe Baruch and the prophet Jeremiah. But the LORD hid them.
27The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah after the king had burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation: 28Get yourself another scroll, and write upon it the same words that were in the first scroll that was burned by King Jehoiakim of Judah. 29And concerning King Jehoiakim of Judah you shall say: Thus said the LORD: You burned that scroll, saying, “How dare you write in it that the king of Babylon will come and destroy this land and cause man and beast to cease from it?” 30Assuredly, thus said the LORD concerning King Jehoiakim of Judah: He shall not have any of his line sitting on the throne of David; and his own corpse shall be left exposed to the heat by day and the cold by night. 31And I will punish him and his offspring and his courtiers for their iniquity; I will bring on them and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem and on all the men of Judah all the disasters of which I have warned them—but they would not listen.
32So Jeremiah got another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah. And at Jeremiah’s dictation, he wrote in it the whole text of the scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah had burned; and more of the like was added.
37 Zedekiah son of Josiah became king instead of Coniah son of Jehoiakim, for King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon set him up as king over the land of Judah. 2Neither he nor his courtiers nor the people of the land gave heed to the words which the LORD spoke through the prophet Jeremiah.
3Yet King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah son of the priest Maaseiah to the prophet Jeremiah, to say, “Please pray on our behalf to the LORD our God.” (4Jeremiah could still go in and out among the people, for they had not yet put him in prison. 5The army of Pharaoh had set out from Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report, they raised the siege of Jerusalem.)
6Then the word of the LORD came to the prophet Jeremiah: 7Thus said the LORD, the God of Israel: Thus shall you say to the king of Judah who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: “The army of Pharaoh, which set out to help you, will return to its own land, to Egypt. 8And the Chaldeans will come back and attack this city and they will capture it and destroy it by fire.”
9Thus said the LORD: Do not delude yourselves into thinking, “The Chaldeans will go away from us.” They will not. 10Even if you defeated the whole army of the Chaldeans that are fighting against you, and only wounded men were left lying in their tents, they would get up and burn this city down!
11When the army of the Chaldeans raised the siege of Jerusalem on account of the army of Pharaoh, 12Jeremiah was going to leave Jerusalem and go to the territory of Benjamin a-to share in some property there-a among the people. 13When he got to the Benjamin Gate, there was a guard officer there named Irijah son of Shelemiah son of Hananiah; and he arrested the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “You are defecting to the Chaldeans!” 14Jeremiah answered, “That’s a lie! I’m not defecting to the Chaldeans!” But Irijah would not listen to him; he arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. 15The officials were furious with Jeremiah; they beat him and put him into prison, in the house of the scribe Jonathan—for it had been made into a jail. 16Thus Jeremiah came to the a-pit and the cells,-a and Jeremiah remained there a long time.
17Then King Zedekiah sent for him, and the king questioned him secretly in his palace. He asked, “Is there any word from the LORD?” “There is!” Jeremiah answered, and he continued, “You will be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.” 18And Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “What wrong have I done to you, to your courtiers, and to this people, that you have put me in jail? 19And where are those prophets of yours who prophesied to you that the king of Babylon would never move against you and against this land? 20Now, please hear me, O lord king, and grant my plea: Don’t send me back to the house of the scribe Jonathan bto die there.”-b
21So King Zedekiah gave instructions to lodge Jeremiah in the prison compound and to supply him daily with a loaf of bread from the Bakers’ Street—until all the bread in the city was gone. Jeremiah remained in the prison compound.
38 Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchiah heard what Jeremiah was saying to all the people: 2“Thus said the LORD: Whoever remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but whoever surrenders to the Chaldeans shall live; a-he shall at least gain his life-a and shall live. 3Thus said the LORD: This city shall be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon’s army, and he shall capture it.”
4Then the officials said to the king, “Let that man be put to death, for he disheartensb the soldiers, and all the people who are left in this city, by speaking such things to them. That man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm!” 5King Zedekiah replied, “He is in your hands; the king cannot oppose you in anything!”
6So they took Jeremiah and put him down in the pit of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the prison compound; they let Jeremiah down by ropes. There was no water in the pit, only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.
7Ebed-melech the Cushite, a eunuch who was in the king’s palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the pit. The king was then sitting at the Benjamin Gate; 8so Ebed-melech left the king’s palace, and spoke to the king: 9“O lord king, those men have acted wickedly in all they did to the prophet Jeremiah; they have put him down in the pit, to die there of hunger.” For there was no more bread in the city.
10Then the king instructed Ebed-melech the Cushite, “Take with you thirtyc men from here, and pull the prophet Jeremiah up from the pit before he dies.” 11So Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went to the king’s palace, to d-a place below-d the treasury. There they got worn cloths and rags, which they let down to Jeremiah in the pit by ropes.
12And Ebed-melech the Cushite called to Jeremiah, “Put the worn cloths and rags under your armpits, inside the ropes.” Jeremiah did so, 13and they pulled Jeremiah up by the ropes and got him out of the pit. And Jeremiah remained in the prison compound.
14King Zedekiah sent for the prophet Jeremiah, and had him brought to him at the third entrance of the House of the LORD. And the king said to Jeremiah, “I want to ask you something; don’t conceal anything from me.”
15Jeremiah answered the king, “If I tell you, you’ll surely kill me; and if I give you advice, you won’t listen to me.”
16Thereupon King Zedekiah secretly promised Jeremiah on oath: “As the LORD lives who has e-given us this life,-e I will not put you to death or leave you in the hands of those men who seek your life.”
17Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus said the LORD, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel: If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned down. You and your household will live. 18But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans, who will burn it down; and you will not escape from them.”
19King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am worried about the Judeans who have defected to the Chaldeans; that they [the Chaldeans] might hand me over to them to abuse me.”
20“They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Listen to the voice of the LORD, to what I tell you, that it may go well with you and your life be spared.
