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¹ AND King Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.² But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the LORD, which he spoke through Jeremiah the prophet.³ And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maasiah the priest to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Pray now for us before the LORD your God.⁴ Now Jeremiah was free, going out and coming in among the people; for they had not yet put him in prison.⁵ Then Pharaohs army came forth out of Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report, they departed from Jerusalem.⁶ Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, saying,⁷ Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Thus shall you say to the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me: Behold, Pharaohs army, which has come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land.⁸ And the Chaldeans shall return again and fight against this city, and they shall take it and burn it with fire.⁹ Thus says the LORD: Do not think within yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans shall surely withdraw from us; for they shall not withdraw.¹⁰ For even if you should destroy the whole army of Chaldeans that is fighting against you and there remained but wounded men among them, yet they would rise up every man from his tent and burn this city with fire.

¹¹ And it came to pass that when the Chaldean army had departed from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaohs army,¹² Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to divide a portion of property there with the people.¹³ And as he stood in the gate of Benjamin, an officer was there whose name was Neriah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he seized Jeremiah the prophet and said to him, You are escaping to the Chaldeans.¹⁴ Then Jeremiah said, You lie; I am not escaping to the Chaldeans. But he would not listen to him; so Neriah seized Jeremiah and brought him to the princes.¹⁵ And the princes were angry with Jeremiah; so they scourged him and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for he was appointed warden over the prisoners.¹⁶ And they lowered Jeremiah from the opening of the well into its depths, and Jeremiah remained there many days;¹⁷ Then King Zedekiah sent and brought him up; and the king conferred with him secretly in the palace and said to him, Is there any word from the LORD? And Jeremiah said, There is. And the king said, What is it? Then Jeremiah said, You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.¹⁸ Moreover Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, What offence have I done against you or against your servants or against this people, that you have put me into prison?¹⁹ Where are now your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you nor against this land?²⁰ Therefore now listen to me, O my lord the king; let my supplication be acceptable before you, that you may not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.²¹ Then King Zedekiah gave an order, and they allowed Jeremiah to stay in the court of the prison, and they gave him a loaf of bread daily from the bakers street until all the bread in the city was gone. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.