1 King Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim; Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had made him king in the land of Judah.
2 Yet neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land listened to the words of the LORD that he spoke by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet.
3 King Zedekiah sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and the priest Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah to the prophet Jeremiah to say, "Pray, please, on our behalf to the LORD our God."
4 Jeremiah was still going in and out among the people, for they had not yet put him in the prison house.
5 Pharaoh's army had come out from Egypt, and the Chaldeans besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them and went up from Jerusalem.
6 And the word of the LORD came to the prophet Jeremiah:
7 "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: This is what you are to say to the king of Judah, who sent you to me to consult me: 'See, Pharaoh's army, which has come out to help you, is going back to its land, to Egypt.
8 The Chaldeans will return and fight against this city; they will take it and burn it with fire.'
9 Thus says the LORD: Do not fool yourselves by saying, 'The Chaldeans will certainly go away and leave us,' for they will not go.
10 Even if you were to strike down the whole Chaldean army that is fighting you, and only wounded men were left among them, each in his tent, they would get up and burn this city with fire."
11 When the Chaldean army had gone up from Jerusalem before Pharaoh's army,
12 Jeremiah went out from Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to receive his portion there in the midst of the people.
13 But when he was at the Benjamin Gate, an officer of the watch named Irijah the son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, was there, and he arrested the prophet Jeremiah, saying, "You are going over to the Chaldeans!"
14 Jeremiah said, "Lies! I am not going over to the Chaldeans." But he would not listen to him; Irijah arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials.
15 The officials were angry at Jeremiah; they beat him and put him in the jail at the house of Jonathan the scribe, for they had turned it into the prison.
16 So Jeremiah went into the dungeon house, into the vaults, and Jeremiah stayed there many days.
17 Then King Zedekiah sent and took him, and the king asked him privately in his house, "Is there a word from the LORD?" Jeremiah said, "There is," and he said, "Into the hand of the king of Babylon you will be given."
18 Jeremiah also said to King Zedekiah, "How have I sinned against you, your servants or this people, that you have put me in the jail?
19 And where are your prophets who prophesied to you, 'The king of Babylon will not come against you and against this land'?
20 Now please listen, my lord the king; let my supplication fall before you; do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I will die there."
21 So King Zedekiah commanded, and they placed Jeremiah in the court of the guard, and a round loaf of bread from the bakers' street was given him each day until all the bread in the city was used up. So Jeremiah stayed in the court of the guard.