¹And King Zedekiah son of Josiah reigned in place of Coniah son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.

²But neither he nor his slaves nor the people of the land listened to the word of Yahweh, which he spoke by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet.

³And King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "Pray, please, on our behalf to Yahweh our God."

⁴And Jeremiah was coming and going out in the midst of the people, and they had not put him in the house of the prison.

⁵And the army of Pharaoh had come out of Egypt; and the Chaldeans who were hemming in Jerusalem heard the report of them, and they went up from Jerusalem.

⁶And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the prophet, saying,

⁷"Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: Thus you shall say to the king of Judah who sent you to me to inquire of me: 'Behold, the army of Pharaoh, which is coming out to help you, has returned to its land, Egypt.

⁸And the Chaldeans will return and fight against this city, and capture it, and burn it with fire.'

⁹Thus says Yahweh: 'Do not deceive your living selves, saying, "The Chaldeans will surely go away from us," for they will not go.

¹⁰For even if you had struck down the whole army of the Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and men pierced through were left among them, each man in his tent would rise up and burn this city with fire.'"

¹¹And it happened, when the army of the Chaldeans went up from Jerusalem from the face of the army of Pharaoh,

¹²And Jeremiah went out of Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin, to receive a portion from there in the midst of the people.

¹³And he was at the gate of Benjamin, and there was a master of the watch, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah son of Hananiah, and he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "You are falling away to the Chaldeans."

¹⁴And Jeremiah said, "Falsehood! I am not falling away to the Chaldeans." But he did not listen to him; and Irijah seized Jeremiah and brought him to the officials.

¹⁵And the officials were angry with Jeremiah, and they struck him and put him in the house of the bond, the house of Jonathan the scribe, for they had made it into the house of the prison.

¹⁶For Jeremiah had gone into the house of the pit and into the vaulted cells, and Jeremiah dwelled there many days.

¹⁷And King Zedekiah sent and took him, and the king asked him in his house, in secret, and said, "Is there a word from Yahweh?" And Jeremiah said, "There is." And he said, "You will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon."

¹⁸And Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, "In what have I sinned against you, and against your slaves, and against this people, that you have put me in the house of the prison?

¹⁹And where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, 'The king of Babylon will not come against you and against this land'?"

²⁰And now hear, please, my lord the king: may my plea fall, please before your face, and do not bring me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, so I will not die there.

²¹And King Zedekiah commanded, and they committed Jeremiah to the court of the guard, and gave him a round loaf of bread for each day from the street of the bakers, until all the bread from the city was finished. And Jeremiah dwelled in the court of the guard.