37:1 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, (2Ki 24:17).
37:3 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.
37:4 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.
37:5 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.
37:12 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.
37:13 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.
37:15 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.
37:21 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.
