New International Reader s Version - NIrV - 1996
Jeremiah 37
1
Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylonia, appointed Zedekiah to be king of Judah. He was the son of Josiah. Zedekiah ruled in place of Jehoiachin, the son of Jehoiakim.
Reference
Kingdom
Jeremiah 22:24
2 Kings 24:17
2 Kings 24:12
Jeremiah 24:1
Jeremiah 52:31
Parallel theme
Jeremiah 22:28
2
Zedekiah and his attendants didn't pay any attention to what the Lord had said through me. And the people of the land didn't pay any attention either.
Reference
3
But King Zedekiah sent Jehucal to me. He sent the priest Zephaniah along with him. Jehucal was the son of Shelemiah. Zephaniah was the son of Maaseiah. Jehucal and Zephaniah brought the king's message to me. It said, "Please pray to the Lord our God for us."
Reference
People
Kingdom
1 Kings 13:6
Jeremiah 29:21
Parallel theme
Jeremiah 52:24
Jeremiah 2:27
Jeremiah 38:1
Prayer
Jeremiah 42:20
Acts 8:24
Exodus 10:17
References God
Jeremiah 29:25
References Lord
Exodus 8:8
4
At that time I was free to come and go among the people. I had not yet been put in prison.
Reference
Parallel theme
Jeremiah 37:15
5
The armies of Babylonia were attacking Jerusalem. They received a report that Pharaoh's army had marched out of Egypt to help Zedekiah. So they pulled back from Jerusalem.
Reference
Parallel theme
Jeremiah 34:21
References Egypt
Ezekiel 17:15
2 Kings 24:7
Jeremiah 37:7
References Jerusalem
Jeremiah 37:11
6
A message came to me from the Lord.
7
The Lord is the God of Israel. He says, "The king of Judah has sent you to ask me for advice. Tell him, 'Pharaoh's army has marched out to help you. But it will go back to its own land. It will return to Egypt.
Reference
8
Then the armies of Babylonia will come back here. They will attack this city. They will capture it. Then they will burn it down.'
Reference
Parallel theme
Jeremiah 38:23
9
"The Lord says, 'Do not fool yourselves. You think, "The Babylonians will leave us alone." But they will not!
Reference
Parallel theme
Obadiah 1:3
Ephesians 5:6
James 1:22
Galatians 6:3
Galatians 6:7
2 Thessalonians 2:3
References Lord
Jeremiah 29:8
10
Suppose you destroy all of the armies of Babylonia that are attacking you. Suppose only wounded men are left in their tents. Even then they will come out and burn this city down.' "
Reference
11
The armies of Babylonia had pulled back from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh's army.
12
So I started to leave the city. I was planning to go to the territory of Benjamin. I wanted to get my share of the property among the people there.
Reference
Parallel theme
Jeremiah 1:1
13
I got as far as the Benjamin Gate. But the captain of the guard arrested me. He said, "You are going over to the side of the Babylonians!" The captain's name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah. Shelemiah was the son of Hananiah.
Reference
People
Parallel theme
Jeremiah 38:7
Zechariah 14:10
Acts 24:13
Acts 6:11
Jeremiah 21:9
Jeremiah 20:10
Jeremiah 38:1
Luke 23:2
Prophecy
Jeremiah 18:18
14
I said to Irijah, "That isn't true! I'm not going to the side of the Babylonians." But Irijah wouldn't listen to me. Instead, he arrested me. He brought me to the officials.
Reference
Parallel theme
Psalm 27:12
15
They were angry with me. So they had me beaten. Then they took me to the house of the secretary Jonathan. It had been made into a prison. That's where they put me.
Reference
People
16
I was put into a prison cell that was below ground level. I remained there a long time.
Reference
Parallel theme
Jeremiah 38:6
17
Then King Zedekiah sent for me. He had me brought to the palace. There he spoke to me in private. He asked, "Do you have a message from the Lord for me?" "Yes," I replied. "You will be handed over to the king of Babylonia."
Reference
18
Then I continued, "Why have you put me in prison? What crime have I committed against you? What have I done to your officials or these people?
Reference
19
Where are your prophets who prophesied to you? They said, 'The king of Babylonia won't attack you. He won't march into this land.'
Reference
Kingdom
2 Kings 3:13
Parallel theme
Jeremiah 2:28
Jeremiah 8:11
Jeremiah 23:17
Jeremiah 29:31
Jeremiah 6:14
20
"But now please listen, my king and master. Let me make my appeal to you. Please don't send me back to the house of the secretary Jonathan. If you do, I'll die there."
Reference
References Lord
Jeremiah 36:7
21
Then King Zedekiah gave the order. His men put me in the courtyard of the guard. They gave me bread from the street of the bakers. They did it every day until all of the bread in the city was gone. So I remained in the courtyard of the guard.
Reference
Kingdom
Jeremiah 32:2
Jeremiah 38:9
Parallel theme
Jeremiah 38:13
Jeremiah 38:28
Jeremiah 52:6
Isaiah 33:16
2 Kings 25:3
Job 5:20
Summary of Jeremiah 37
Jeremiah 37 takes place during the final years of King Zedekiah's reign, when Babylon is besieging Jerusalem and Judah is approaching national destruction. Although Zedekiah occasionally seeks Jeremiah's advice, neither the king nor his officials are willing to follow the prophet's warnings.
The chapter begins with Zedekiah asking Jeremiah to pray for the nation. This request is revealing because the king recognizes that Jeremiah has access to God, yet he still refuses to accept the message God gives through him.
Then something happens that briefly appears to change everything: the Egyptian army comes out of Egypt, causing the Babylonian army to withdraw from Jerusalem temporarily.
For the people inside the city, this probably looked like an answer to prayer. Perhaps Egypt would rescue Judah. Perhaps Babylon had finally given up. Perhaps Jeremiah's warnings had been wrong.
God tells Jeremiah otherwise.
The Babylonian withdrawal is only temporary. Egypt will return home, Babylon will return to Jerusalem, and the city will eventually be captured and burned. Even if the Judeans managed to defeat some of the Babylonian soldiers who remained behind, the surviving army would recover and complete the attack.
This is an important theme in Jeremiah: temporary relief does not necessarily mean that the underlying problem has disappeared.
While the Babylonian army has withdrawn, Jeremiah attempts to leave Jerusalem and travel toward Benjamin. At the Benjamin Gate, however, an official named Irijah accuses him of defecting to the Babylonians.
The accusation makes sense within the political atmosphere of the time. Jeremiah has repeatedly told Judah that Babylon will win and that resistance is futile. From the perspective of frightened officials, such preaching could sound like betrayal.
Jeremiah denies the accusation, but the officials refuse to believe him. They beat him and place him in prison.
Eventually, Zedekiah secretly meets with Jeremiah and asks whether he has received another word from the Lord. Jeremiah does not change his message simply because he is speaking privately to the king. He tells Zedekiah plainly that the king will be handed over to Babylon.
Jeremiah then asks a deeply personal question: What crime have I committed that deserves imprisonment? He points out that he has been punished simply for faithfully delivering God's message.
He also challenges the king concerning the prophets who had promised that Babylon would not attack Judah. Their reassuring predictions had been more attractive to the people, but events were increasingly proving Jeremiah's warnings correct.
Jeremiah asks not to be returned to the underground prison because he fears that he will die there. Zedekiah responds by moving him to the courtyard of the guard, where conditions are better, and orders that he receive a daily ration of bread.
Even this small act of mercy occurs during a time when food is becoming increasingly scarce throughout Jerusalem.
The chapter therefore shows Jeremiah caught between political fear, false hope, military crisis, and God's unchanging word. Egypt's temporary appearance creates optimism, but God's warning remains unchanged. Jeremiah's imprisonment demonstrates the personal cost of speaking unpopular truth, while Zedekiah's private questions reveal a king who is curious about God's message but unwilling to obey it.
The central message is that temporary relief should not be confused with permanent deliverance, because when Egypt's army approaches and Babylon temporarily withdraws from Jerusalem, the people believe that the danger may be ending, yet God tells Jeremiah that Babylon will return and complete the destruction; Jeremiah himself then experiences the cost of delivering this unpopular truth when he is falsely accused of treason, beaten, and imprisoned, while King Zedekiah privately seeks his counsel but still refuses to follow his warning, showing that knowing what God says is not the same as obeying Him, and that faithfulness sometimes requires continuing to speak the truth even when it brings rejection, misunderstanding, suffering, and personal danger.
The chapter begins with Zedekiah asking Jeremiah to pray for the nation. This request is revealing because the king recognizes that Jeremiah has access to God, yet he still refuses to accept the message God gives through him.
Then something happens that briefly appears to change everything: the Egyptian army comes out of Egypt, causing the Babylonian army to withdraw from Jerusalem temporarily.
For the people inside the city, this probably looked like an answer to prayer. Perhaps Egypt would rescue Judah. Perhaps Babylon had finally given up. Perhaps Jeremiah's warnings had been wrong.
God tells Jeremiah otherwise.
The Babylonian withdrawal is only temporary. Egypt will return home, Babylon will return to Jerusalem, and the city will eventually be captured and burned. Even if the Judeans managed to defeat some of the Babylonian soldiers who remained behind, the surviving army would recover and complete the attack.
This is an important theme in Jeremiah: temporary relief does not necessarily mean that the underlying problem has disappeared.
While the Babylonian army has withdrawn, Jeremiah attempts to leave Jerusalem and travel toward Benjamin. At the Benjamin Gate, however, an official named Irijah accuses him of defecting to the Babylonians.
The accusation makes sense within the political atmosphere of the time. Jeremiah has repeatedly told Judah that Babylon will win and that resistance is futile. From the perspective of frightened officials, such preaching could sound like betrayal.
Jeremiah denies the accusation, but the officials refuse to believe him. They beat him and place him in prison.
Eventually, Zedekiah secretly meets with Jeremiah and asks whether he has received another word from the Lord. Jeremiah does not change his message simply because he is speaking privately to the king. He tells Zedekiah plainly that the king will be handed over to Babylon.
Jeremiah then asks a deeply personal question: What crime have I committed that deserves imprisonment? He points out that he has been punished simply for faithfully delivering God's message.
He also challenges the king concerning the prophets who had promised that Babylon would not attack Judah. Their reassuring predictions had been more attractive to the people, but events were increasingly proving Jeremiah's warnings correct.
Jeremiah asks not to be returned to the underground prison because he fears that he will die there. Zedekiah responds by moving him to the courtyard of the guard, where conditions are better, and orders that he receive a daily ration of bread.
Even this small act of mercy occurs during a time when food is becoming increasingly scarce throughout Jerusalem.
The chapter therefore shows Jeremiah caught between political fear, false hope, military crisis, and God's unchanging word. Egypt's temporary appearance creates optimism, but God's warning remains unchanged. Jeremiah's imprisonment demonstrates the personal cost of speaking unpopular truth, while Zedekiah's private questions reveal a king who is curious about God's message but unwilling to obey it.
The central message is that temporary relief should not be confused with permanent deliverance, because when Egypt's army approaches and Babylon temporarily withdraws from Jerusalem, the people believe that the danger may be ending, yet God tells Jeremiah that Babylon will return and complete the destruction; Jeremiah himself then experiences the cost of delivering this unpopular truth when he is falsely accused of treason, beaten, and imprisoned, while King Zedekiah privately seeks his counsel but still refuses to follow his warning, showing that knowing what God says is not the same as obeying Him, and that faithfulness sometimes requires continuing to speak the truth even when it brings rejection, misunderstanding, suffering, and personal danger.