Jeremiah 37
Jeremiah 37 opens in the last grim chapter of Judah's history. King Zedekiah the son of Josiah sits on the throne, set there by Babylon in place of Coniah - the young king also called Jehoiachin, already carried into exile - and the verdict on his reign is delivered at once: neither he, nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of the LORD (vv. 1-2). That refusal is the key to everything that follows. Then a strange thing happens. Zedekiah, who will not obey the prophet, sends messengers to him with a request: Pray now unto the LORD our God for us (v. 3). The occasion is a sudden turn in the siege - Pharaoh's army was come forth out of Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed (v. 5). For a moment the pressure lifts, and with it comes a dangerous hope.3
The word that comes back through Jeremiah refuses to flatter that hope. Pharaoh's army will turn around and go home; the Chaldeans will return, take the city, and burn it; and the people are not to deceive themselves into thinking otherwise (vv. 7-10). The lull is not deliverance - it is a pause before the end. And in that pause Jeremiah tries to leave Jerusalem for the land of Benjamin on a family matter, and at the gate a captain of the guard seizes him with an accusation: Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans (v. 13) - you are deserting to the enemy. It is false, but it is plausible, because Jeremiah has been telling the city to surrender. He is beaten by the princes and thrown into a makeshift prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe, into a dungeon where he remains many days (vv. 14-16).
Then, out of the dark, the king sends for him - secretly. The king asked him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any word from the LORD? And Jeremiah said, There is (v. 17). The question is the heart of the chapter, and so is the answer: the same hard word as before, that Zedekiah will be handed to the king of Babylon. Jeremiah seizes the moment to plead for his life - What have I offended against thee… that ye have put me in prison? (v. 18) - and asks not to be sent back to the dungeon where he might die. The king grants the smaller mercy and leaves the larger truth untouched: Jeremiah is moved to the court of the prison and given bread while it lasts (vv. 20-21). A king who wants God's word in secret but will not bow to it in public; a prophet who tells the truth from a cell whatever it costs him - the chapter holds the two side by side and lets the contrast preach.2
Tap any highlighted phrase to jump to the commentary that unpacks it.
Jeremiah 37:1-5Pray Now Unto the LORD Our God for Us
1And 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. 2But 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. 3And 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. 4Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people: for they had not put him into prison. 5Then Pharaoh's army was come forth out of Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem.
The chapter opens by placing us at the very end of the kingdom of Judah. King Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king (v. 1). Zedekiah is a puppet, installed by the empire after his nephew Coniah - the young king also called Jehoiachin - was carried off to Babylon. And before a single event of the chapter unfolds, the narrator hands down the verdict that explains all of it: 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 (v. 2). The problem is not that no word from God was available; for years it had been spoken plainly through Jeremiah. The problem is that no one would hearken - would listen so as to obey. The guilt is spread deliberately across every layer of the nation: the king, his officials, and the common people alike. This is the soil in which the rest of the chapter grows. When a man who will not obey the word nevertheless sends, a few verses later, to ask for prayer, we already know the shape of his heart. He wants the benefit of God's help without the obedience of God's servant.3
Then the scene shifts and a flicker of hope appears: 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 (v. 3). At this stage Jeremiah is still a free man - Jeremiah came in and went out among the people: for they had not put him into prison (v. 4). The reason for the sudden appeal is given next: 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 (v. 5). The siege has lifted. Egypt, Judah's old ally, has marched out, and the Babylonian army has pulled back from the walls to deal with the threat. To the people inside the city it must have looked like rescue - proof that resistance had paid off and the worst would not come after all. Notice the timing of Zedekiah's request for prayer. He turns to the LORD's prophet not in steady devotion but in a crisis, and the moment the crisis seems to ease he will want a word confirming the relief. The whole episode rests on a false hope: a temporary withdrawal mistaken for deliverance, a pause read as a pardon.
Jeremiah 37:6-10The Chaldeans Shall Come Again, and Burn It With Fire
6Then came the word of the LORD unto the prophet Jeremiah, saying, 7Thus 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. 8And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire. 9Thus saith the LORD; Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart. 10For 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.
The reply God gives through Jeremiah does not so much as acknowledge the mood of relief in the city. Thus saith the LORD… Behold, Pharaoh's army, which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land (v. 7). The very thing the people are pinning their hopes on - the Egyptian army - is the thing God says will fail them. It will not stay to fight; it will return to Egypt, and the relief will prove as brief as it is illusory. Then comes the part no one wants to hear: the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire (v. 8). The withdrawal is not the end of the siege but an interruption of it. The Babylonians will be back, and when they return the outcome is certain - the city taken, the city burned. What stands out is how unmoved the word of God is by the change in circumstances. The siege lifting did not soften the message; God's word does not bend to match the headlines. The truth Jeremiah carried while the army pressed the walls is exactly the truth he carries now that the army has gone. Outcomes shift; the word holds.
God presses the point with a sharp warning against the very self-deception the lull invites: Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart (v. 9). The people are telling themselves a comforting story - the enemy has gone and will not return - and God names it as a lie they are speaking to their own hearts. The Hebrew has the force of do not lift up your own souls with false confidence; the danger is not an enemy outside the wall but a falsehood inside the heart. Then God drives it to an extreme to leave no room for hope in the flesh: though ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans… and there remained but wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his tent, and burn this city with fire (v. 10). It is a deliberately impossible picture - an army already beaten down to nothing but the dying, and even these rising from their tents to finish the work. The point is stark: the fall of Jerusalem is not a military probability that better odds might overturn; it is a settled judgment of God. No turn of the battlefield can cancel what the LORD has determined. The only safety left is not in resisting the word but in submitting to it.
Jeremiah 37:11-15Thou Fallest Away to the Chaldeans
11And it came to pass, that when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army, 12Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to separate himself thence in the midst of the people. 13And 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. 14Then 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. 15Wherefore 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.
In the lull, while the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army (v. 11), Jeremiah seizes the chance to leave the city. The text is careful about his purpose: he went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to separate himself thence in the midst of the people (v. 12) - an ordinary errand into his home territory, likely connected to the family land at Anathoth he had been buying and selling under the law of redemption. It is a lawful, even mundane, trip. But at the city's edge it goes wrong: when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward… took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans (v. 13). The accusation is desertion - that the prophet is slipping out to defect to the enemy. Jeremiah answers flatly: It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans (v. 14). And the charge is false. But notice why it is so easy to believe. Jeremiah has spent years telling the city to surrender to Babylon, that resistance is futile and the Chaldeans will win. To a suspicious guard, a man who preaches surrender and is caught leaving through the gate looks exactly like a traitor. The faithful word he had spoken is precisely what makes the lie against him plausible. So the truth-teller is treated as the enemy, and his own message becomes the rope they hang the accusation on.
The captain will not listen: he hearkened not to him: so Irijah took Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes (v. 14). Note the word again - he hearkened not, the same failure that opened the chapter, where the whole nation did hearken not unto the words of the LORD (v. 2). From the king down to a gate-guard, the refusal to hear runs through everyone. The princes - the officials who held real power in the dying city - need no trial: 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 (v. 15). Their anger is the giveaway. They are not weighing evidence; they are venting fury at a man whose message they hate, and the desertion charge is a convenient pretext. He is beaten and shut up in a private house pressed into service as a jail - an improvised dungeon with cabins, or cells, where he will languish many days (v. 16). This is the cost of the word laid bare. Jeremiah has done nothing wrong; his only offense is having spoken what God gave him to speak. And for that he is struck and caged. The chapter does not flinch from showing it: in a society that has refused to hear God, the one man who keeps telling the truth is the one who ends up in chains.
Jeremiah 37:16-21Is There Any Word From the LORD?
16When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon, and into the cabins, and Jeremiah had remained there many days; 17Then 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. 18Moreover 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? 19Where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land? 20Therefore 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. 21Then 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.
After Jeremiah has lain many days in the dungeon (v. 16), the king reaches for him in the dark: 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? (v. 17). Every detail betrays the man. He sends in secret; he wants the meeting hidden, the question off the record. He pulls a prisoner from a cell, the very prophet his own officials have beaten, because he cannot let go of the hope that God might yet say something. And the question itself is bare and hungry: Is there any word from the LORD? Jeremiah's answer is two words of unbroken nerve: There is. He does not soften it, does not bargain for his freedom by trimming it, does not let his chains change his message. There is - and then the same word he has carried all along: thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon. Here is the great contrast of the chapter brought to a single point. The king has the power and the freedom; the prophet has a dungeon and a beating. But the king is the one who is afraid, asking his question in secret, and the prisoner is the one who speaks the truth without flinching. A word from the LORD was available the whole time. The tragedy is a king who wanted to hear it privately and would not obey it openly.
Having spoken the hard word, Jeremiah does two things at once - he defends himself and he indicts the false prophets. What have I offended against thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have put me in prison? (v. 18). It is a fair question with no answer; he has committed no crime. Then he points at the men who told the comfortable lie: Where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land? (v. 19). The events have already exposed them - Babylon has come, the city is besieged - and their cheerful predictions have vanished. The contrast is pointed: the prophet who told the truth is in a dungeon; the prophets who told the pleasing falsehood are nowhere to be found when their words fail. Then Jeremiah makes a humble, specific plea: let my supplication… be accepted… that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there (v. 20). He does not beg to be released or vindicated, only not to be sent back to the cell that will kill him. And the king grants exactly that and no more: Zedekiah… commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread… until all the bread in the city were spent (v. 21). It is a half-mercy from a half-hearted king - better quarters, a daily ration - while the truth Jeremiah spoke goes entirely unheeded.
Further study
- The Hebrew text of Jeremiah 37 with Rashi, Radak, and other classical commentators side by side - useful for the question ha-yesh davar me-et YHWH (v. 17, “Is there any word from the LORD?”), for the verb nofel (v. 13, “thou fallest away,” the charge of desertion), and for the names and offices behind the messengers and the captain of the ward.
- Jeremiah 37 ↔ Mark 6 · John 12 · 1 Timothy 6 · 2 Timothy 2Intertextual BibleTraces the threads tying Jeremiah 37 to the rest of Scripture - the king who questions the prophet secretly (v. 17) beside Herod who heard… gladly yet would not obey (Mark 6:20) and the rulers who believed… but did not confess (John 12:42-43), and the prophet imprisoned for the word beside the One who witnessed a good confession (1 Tim. 6:13) and the word that is not bound (2 Tim. 2:9).
- Jeremiah 37 - Translators' NotesNET BibleThe NET Bible's detailed footnotes on Jeremiah 37 - the historical setting of Zedekiah's reign and the Egyptian intervention that briefly lifted the siege (vv. 1-5), the legal force of the desertion charge at the gate (vv. 12-14), the nature of the dungeon in the house of Jonathan (vv. 15-16), and the secret royal audience and Jeremiah's plea (vv. 17-21).
Where this echoes in Scripture
Pray Now Unto the LORD Our God for Us
- 2 Kings 24:17And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father’s brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.The making of Zedekiah king by Babylon in place of Coniah - the history compressed into verse 1.
- Jeremiah 21:1-2Enquire, I pray thee, of the LORD for us... if so be that the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works.Zedekiah making the same kind of appeal as verse 3 - wanting the LORD’s help without the LORD’s terms.
- Mark 6:20For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy... and heard him gladly.A ruler drawn to the prophet’s word yet unwilling to obey it - the heart of verses 3 and 17.
- Ezekiel 17:15But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and much people.Judah’s reliance on Egypt that lies behind the brief relief of verse 5 - a hope the LORD had condemned.
- Isaiah 31:1Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses... but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel.The false hope of verse 5 named for what it is - trusting Egypt instead of the LORD.
The Chaldeans Shall Come Again, and Burn It With Fire
- Jeremiah 34:21-22I will... cause them to return to this city, and they shall fight against it, and take it, and burn it with fire.The same prophecy as verses 8-10 - the Chaldeans returning to take and burn the city.
- Ezekiel 13:10they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace.The lie of verse 9 in the mouths of the false prophets - promising a peace that would not come.
- Luke 19:43-44thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round... and shall lay thee even with the ground.Jesus weeping over the same city with the same hard truth as verse 8 - the word that loves enough to warn.
- Galatians 1:10For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? ... I should not be the servant of Christ.The choice Jeremiah makes in verses 7-10 - God’s true word over a crowd-pleasing one.
- Numbers 23:19God is not a man, that he should lie... hath he said, and shall he not do it?Why the lifted siege changed nothing (vv. 7-8) - the LORD’s word does not bend to circumstance.
Thou Fallest Away to the Chaldeans
- Jeremiah 38:19I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand.The same verb and the same fear - those who really did “fall away” to Babylon, against whom Jeremiah is falsely charged in verse 13.
- Jeremiah 26:8-9the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die.An earlier seizing of Jeremiah for his message - the pattern repeated in verses 13-15.
- Matthew 26:59-60the chief priests... sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death... but found none.The false charge against Jeremiah (v. 14) foreshadowing the false witness against Christ.
- Acts 24:5For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews.Paul accused as Jeremiah was - the truth-teller branded a traitor and troublemaker.
- 1 Peter 3:14But and if ye suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are ye: and be not afraid of their terror.The blessing on what Jeremiah endures in verses 13-15 - suffering for doing right.
Is There Any Word From the LORD?
- John 18:37-38To this end was I born... that I should bear witness unto the truth... Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?A bound prophet of truth questioned in private by a fearful ruler - the scene of verse 17 fulfilled in Christ before Pilate.
- 1 Timothy 6:13Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession.The unflinching answer of verse 17 (“There is”) brought to its fullness - the faithful witness who would not trim the truth.
- 2 Timothy 2:9I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound.Why Jeremiah’s chains could not change his message (v. 17) - the word of God is not bound with the prophet.
- Jeremiah 38:14-16Then Zedekiah the king sent... I will ask thee a thing; hide nothing from me.Zedekiah again summoning Jeremiah in secret to ask for a word - the same divided king as verse 17.
- Amos 8:11I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread... but of hearing the words of the LORD.The hunger behind the king’s question in verse 17 - the longing for a word from the LORD.