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.
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 Jehovah our God for us.
So says Jehovah, the God of Israel: You shall say this to the king of Judah, who sent you to Me to inquire of Me: Behold, Pharaoh's army, which has come forth to help you, shall return to Egypt into their own land.
For though you had stricken the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained only wounded men among them, they would rise up, each man in his tent, and burn this city with fire.
And it happened, he being in the gate of Benjamin, a commander of the guard named Irijah was there, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah. And he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, You are falling away to the Chaldeans.
Then Jeremiah said, A lie! I am not falling away to the Chaldeans. But he did not listen to him; so Irijah took Jeremiah and brought him to the rulers.
And Zedekiah the king sent and took him out. And the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any Word from Jehovah? And Jeremiah said, There is. For, He said, you shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.
And Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, What have I offended against you, or against your servants, or against this people, that you have put me in prison?
And please hear now, O my lord the king; I beg you, let my cry be pleasing to you, so that you cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.
And Zedekiah the king commanded that they should put Jeremiah into the court of the prison, and that they should give him a piece of bread out of the bakers' street daily, until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.