Bible Commentaries

And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of ^a Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon ^b made king in the land of Judah.

(a) Who was called Jehoiachin, or Jeconiah.

(b) And called him Zedekiah, while before his name was Mattaniah, (2 Kings 24:17).

And Zedekiah the king ^c 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.

(c) Because he was afraid of the Chaldeans who came against him.

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

(d) That is, was out of prison and free.

Then Pharaoh's army had ^e come from Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem.

(e) To help the Jews.

Then Jeremiah went out of Jerusalem to go into the ^f land of Benjamin, to separate himself from there in the midst of the people.

(f) As some think, to go to Anathoth his own town.

And when he was in the ^g gate of Benjamin, a captain of the guard [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.

(g) By which men went into the country of Benjamin.

Wherefore the princes were angry with Jeremiah, and beat him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the ^h prison.

(h) Because it was a vile and straight prison.

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 baker's street, until all the ⁱ bread in the city should be consumed. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.

(i) That is, so long as there was any bread in the city: thus God provides for his, that he will cause their enemies to preserve them to that end to which he has appointed them.