¹ And Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned as king, instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.

² But neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, hearkened to the words of Jehovah, which he spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.

³ 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 to Jehovah our God for us.

⁴ Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people, for they had not put him into prison.

⁵ And Pharaoh's army came forth out of Egypt. And when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they broke away from Jerusalem.

⁶ Then the word of Jehovah came to the prophet Jeremiah, saying,

⁷ Thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me: Behold, Pharaoh's army, which has come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land.

⁸ And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and they shall take it, and burn it with fire.

⁹ Thus says Jehovah: Do not deceive yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us. For they shall not depart.

¹⁰ For though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among them, yea they would rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.

¹¹ And it came to pass that, when the army of the Chaldeans was broken away from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army,

¹² then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to receive his portion there in the midst of the people.

¹³ 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 laid hold on Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou are falling away to the Chaldeans.

¹⁴ Then Jeremiah said, It is false. I am not falling away to the Chaldeans. But he did not hearken to him. So Irijah laid hold on Jeremiah, and brought him to the rulers.

¹⁵ And the rulers were angry with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for they had made that the prison.

¹⁶ When Jeremiah came into the dungeon-house, and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days,

¹⁷ then Zedekiah the king sent, and fetched him. And the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any word from Jehovah? And Jeremiah said, There is. He also said, Thou shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.

¹⁸ Moreover Jeremiah said to king Zedekiah, How have I sinned against thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have put me in prison?

¹⁹ Where now are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?

²⁰ And now hear, I pray thee, O my lord the king. Let my supplication, I pray thee, be presented before thee, that thou not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.

²¹ Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard. And they gave him a loaf of bread daily out of the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city was spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.