Jeremiah 37:3

Jeremiah 37:3

Zedekiah’s Vain Hope

1 Now King ^aZedekiah 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 ^aBut neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land gave heed to the words of the Lord which He spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.

3 And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and ^aZephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, ^b“Pray now to the Lord our God for us.”

4 Now Jeremiah was coming and going among the people, for they had not yet put him in prison.

5 Then ^aPharaoh’s army came up from Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they departed from Jerusalem.

6 Then the word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah, saying,

7 “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Thus you shall say to the king of Judah, ^awho sent you to Me to inquire of Me: “Behold, Pharaoh’s army which has come up to help you will return to Egypt, to their own land.

8 ^aAnd the Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city, and take it and burn it with fire.” ’

9 Thus says the Lord: ‘Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely depart from us,” for they will not depart.

10 ^aFor though you had defeated the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained only wounded men among them, they would rise up, every man in his tent, and burn the city with fire.’ ”

Jeremiah Imprisoned

11 And it happened, when the army of the Chaldeans left the siege of Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s army,

12 that Jeremiah went out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to claim his property there among the people.

Commentaries:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

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Zedekiah . . . sent—fearing lest, in the event of the Chaldeans overcoming Pharaoh-hophra, they should return to besiege Jerusalem. See on Jeremiah 21:1; that chapter chronologically comes in between the thirty-seventh and thirty-eighth chapter. The message of the king to Jeremiah here in the thirty-seventh chapter is, however, somewhat earlier than that in the twenty-first chapter; here it is while the issue between the Chaldeans and Pharaoh was undecided; there it is when, after the repulse of Pharaoh, the Chaldeans were again advancing against Jerusalem; hence, while Zephaniah is named in both embassies, Jehucal accompanies him here, Pashur there. But, as Pashur and Jehucal are both mentioned in Jeremiah 38:1-2, as hearing Jeremiah's reply, which is identical with that in Jeremiah 21:9, it is probable the two messages followed one another at a short interval; that in this Jeremiah 37:3, and the answer, Jeremiah 37:7-10, being the earlier of the two.

Zephaniah—an abettor of rebellion against God (Jeremiah 29:25), though less virulent than many (Jeremiah 29:29), punished accordingly (Jeremiah 52:24-27).

**Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Jeremiah 37:3:**

2 Kings 25:8-18
Jeremiah 20:17
Jeremiah 29:29
Jeremiah 37:3
Jeremiah 38:1

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