CLV(i)
1 And reign does king Zedekiah son of Josiah instead of Coniah son of Jehoiakim whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had caused to reign in the land of Judah,
2 and he has not hearkened, he, and his servants, and the people of the land, unto the words of Yahweh, that He spoke by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet."
3 And Zedekiah the king sends Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest, unto Jeremiah the prophet, saying, `Pray, we beseech you, for us unto Yahweh our Elohim.'"
4 And Jeremiah is coming in and going out in the midst of the people, (and they have not put him in the prison-house),
5 and the force of Pharaoh has come out of Egypt, and the Chaldeans, who are laying siege against Jerusalem, hear their report, and go up from off Jerusalem."
6 And there is a word of Yahweh unto Jeremiah the prophet, saying:"
7 `Thus said Yahweh, Elohim of Israel, Thus do you say unto the king of Judah, who is sending you unto Me, to seek Me:Lo, the force of Pharaoh that is coming out to you for help has turned back to its land, to Egypt,
8 and the Chaldeans have turned back, and fought against this city, and captured it, and burnt it with fire."
9 `Thus said Yahweh:Lift not up your souls saying, The Chaldeans surely go from off us, for they do not go;"
10 for though you had smitten all the force of the Chaldeans who are fighting with you, and there were left of them wounded men--each in his tent--they rise, and have burnt this city with fire.'"
11 And it has come to pass, in the going up of the force of the Chaldeans from off Jerusalem, because of the force of Pharaoh,
12 that Jeremiah goes out from Jerusalem to go [to] the land of Benjamin, to receive a portion thence in the midst of the people."
13 And it comes to pass, he is at the gate of Benjamin, and there [is] a master of the ward--and his name is Irijah son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah--and he catches Jeremiah the prophet, saying, `Unto the Chaldeans you are falling.'"
14 And Jeremiah said, `Falsehood--I am not falling unto the Chaldeans;' and he has not hearkened unto him, and Irijah lays hold on Jeremiah, and brings him in unto the heads,
15 and the heads are wroth against Jeremiah, and have smitten him, and put him in the prison-house--the house of Jonathan the scribe, for it they had made for a prison-house."
16 When Jeremiah has entered into the house of the dungeon, and unto the cells, then Jeremiah dwells there many days,
17 and the king Zedekiah sends, and takes him, and the king asks him in his house in secret, and said, `Is there a word from Yahweh?' And Jeremiah said, `There is,' and he said, `Into the hand of the king of Babylon you are given.'"
18 And Jeremiah said unto the king Zedekiah, `What have I sinned against you, and against your servants, and against this people, that you have given me unto a prison-house?
19 And where [are] your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, The king of Babylon does not come in against you, and against this land?
20 And now, hearken, I pray you, my lord, O king, let my supplication fall, I pray you, before you, and cause me not to return [to] the house of Jonathan the scribe, that I die not there.'"
21 And the king Zedekiah commands, and they commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison, also to give to him a cake of bread daily from the bakers' street, till the consumption of all the bread of the city, and Jeremiah dwells in the court of the prison."