4-5 Jeremiah was still moving about freely among the people in those days. This was before he had been put in jail. Pharaoh’s army was marching up from Egypt. The Chaldeans fighting against Jerusalem heard that the Egyptians were coming and pulled back.

6-10 Then Jeremiah the prophet received this Message from God: “I, the God of Israel, want you to give this Message to the king of Judah, who has just sent you to me to find out what he should do. Tell him, ‘Get this: Pharaoh’s army, which is on its way to help you, isn’t going to stick it out. No sooner will they get here than they’ll leave and go home to Egypt. And then the Babylonians will come back and resume their attack, capture this city and burn it to the ground. I, God, am telling you: Don’t kid yourselves, reassuring one another, “The Babylonians will leave in a few days.” I tell you, they aren’t leaving. Why, even if you defeated the entire attacking Chaldean army and all that was left were a few wounded soldiers in their tents, the wounded would still do the job and burn this city to the ground.’”

* * *

Read full chapter

Now Jeremiah was free to come and go among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison.(A) Pharaoh’s army had marched out of Egypt,(B) and when the Babylonians[a] who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they withdrew(C) from Jerusalem.(D)

Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet:

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 37:5 Or Chaldeans; also in verses 8, 9, 13 and 14