1
Now 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 gave heed to the words of the Lord which He spoke by the prophet Jeremiah.
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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 to the Lord our God for us."
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Now Jeremiah was coming and going among the people, for they had not yet put him in prison.
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Then Pharaoh's army came up from Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they departed from Jerusalem.
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Then the word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
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"Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, 'Thus you shall say to the king of Judah, who 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.
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And the Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city, and take it and burn it with fire." '
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Thus says the Lord: 'Do not deceive yourselves, saying, "The Chaldeans will surely depart from us," for they will not depart.
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For 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.' "
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And it happened, when the army of the Chaldeans left the siege of Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army,
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that Jeremiah went out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to claim his property there among the people.
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And when he was in the Gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard was there whose name was Irijah the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "You are defecting to the Chaldeans!"
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Then Jeremiah said, "False! I am not defecting to the Chaldeans." But he did not listen to him. So Irijah seized Jeremiah and brought him to the princes.
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Therefore the princes were angry with Jeremiah, and they struck him and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe. For they had made that the prison.
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When Jeremiah entered the dungeon and the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days,