BOOK 24 OF 66 · MAJOR PROPHETS · KING JAMES BIBLE

Jeremiah 37

Jeremiah book home•Chapter 37 of 52•21 verses

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Jeremiah 37 Overview

Zedekiah asks Jeremiah to pray while refusing his message; Babylon temporarily withdraws because of Egypt, but Jeremiah insists the Chaldeans will return, is falsely accused of desertion, beaten, imprisoned, and later moved to a safer court prison.

JeremiahBook

37Chapter

21Verses

Major ProphetsDivision

Before you read Jeremiah 37

Coming from

Jeremiah dictates his prophecies to Baruch, who reads the scroll publicly; King Jehoiakim cuts and burns it piece by piece, but Jeremiah dictates a replacement scroll with additional words and announces judgment on the king.

In this chapter

Leads into

Officials accuse Jeremiah of weakening morale and cast him into a muddy cistern; Ebed-melech courageously secures his rescue, and Jeremiah again privately tells Zedekiah that surrender will save his life and the city from worse destruction.

Key understandingExplore deeper

The chapter occurs during the final siege, when a temporary Babylonian withdrawal creates false hope in Jerusalem.

The interpretive center of Jeremiah 37 is the chapter’s own movement: temporary relief does not invalidate god’s warning. Read its poetry, signs, historical references, and later biblical connections from that center rather than treating isolated phrases as detached slogans.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Temporary relief does not invalidate God’s warning

Babylon’s withdrawal is real but short-lived.

Leaders can seek prayer without intending obedience

Zedekiah wants divine help yet continues resisting the revealed message.

False accusation can accompany faithful service

Jeremiah is charged with defecting even though he denies the accusation.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Jeremiah 21

Zedekiah earlier sought help during siege and received the same basic warning.

Jeremiah 34

The temporary military withdrawal helps explain Jerusalem’s reversal on freeing servants.

Jeremiah 38

Jeremiah’s imprisonment and conflict with officials intensify further.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Do not assume asking a prophet to pray proves faithfulness.

Zedekiah repeatedly seeks Jeremiah while fearing people more than obeying God.

Do not treat every apparent improvement in circumstances as divine approval.

The temporary lifting of siege does not change the announced outcome.

Read Jeremiah 37 watching for…

Zedekiah’s prayer request

Egypt causing Babylon to withdraw

Jeremiah’s unchanged prophecy

the false desertion charge

Jeremiah moved from dungeon to court prison

Chapter outline2 sections

1-10Zedekiah asks Jeremiah to pray as Egypt briefly draws Babylon away, but Jeremiah says Babylon will return 11-21Jeremiah is arrested, beaten, imprisoned, and later kept in the court of the prison

And 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.

But 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.

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 unto the LORD our God for us.

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

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.

Then came the word of the LORD unto the prophet Jeremiah, saying,

Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to inquire of me; Behold, Pharaoh's army, which is come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land.

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

Thus saith the LORD; Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart.

For 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.

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

Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to separate himself thence in the midst of the people.

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 took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans.

Then 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.

Wherefore 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.

When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon, and into the cabins, and Jeremiah had remained there many days;

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? And Jeremiah said, There is: for, said he, thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.

Moreover 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?

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

Therefore 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.

Then 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.