For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, Wherefore dost thou prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;
Parallel translations
- WEB For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, “Why do you prophesy, and say, ‘Yahweh says, “Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;
- BSB For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying: “Why are you prophesying like this? You claim that the LORD says, ‘Behold, I am about to deliver this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.
- NKJV For Zedekiah king of Judah had shut him up, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it;
- NASB because Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you prophesy, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Behold, I am going to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will take it;
- NLT King Zedekiah had put him there, asking why he kept giving this prophecy: “This is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he will take it.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Zedekiah had imprisoned Jeremiah for prophesying that God would hand Jerusalem over to Babylon. It shows the king's resistance to God's word.
Overview
The king could not silence the truth by silencing the prophet; Jeremiah's confinement was punishment for declaring the certain Babylonian conquest. Zedekiah's hostility reflects the common human impulse to reject unwelcome divine warnings. The faithful prophet who suffers for speaking God's truth foreshadows Christ, the ultimate truth-teller rejected by the rulers of His day (John 18:37-38).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Jer 34:2–3Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire:
- Jer 21:4–7Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city.
- Jer 26:8–9Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die.
- Jer 32:28–29Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it:
- 2 Chr 28:22And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the LORD: this is that king Ahaz.
- Amos 7:13But prophesy not again any more at Bethel: for it is the king’s chapel, and it is the king’s court.
- Jer 37:6–10Then came the word of the LORD unto the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
- Jer 38:8Ebedmelech went forth out of the king’s house, and spake to the king, saying,
- Luke 20:2And spake unto him, saying, Tell us, by what authority doest thou these things? or who is he that gave thee this authority?
- Acts 6:12–14And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council,
- Jer 2:30In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
- Jer 38:4Therefore the princes said unto the king, We beseech thee, let this man be put to death: for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.
- Jer 5:3O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
- 2 Kgs 6:31–32Then he said, God do so and more also to me, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat shall stand on him this day.
- Exod 5:4And the king of Egypt said unto them, Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, let the people from their works? get you unto your burdens.
- Jer 27:8And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.
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Christ at the center
Against the failure of false shepherds Jeremiah promises the Righteous Branch, 'The LORD our righteousness,' and the new covenant written on the heart and sealed in the blood of Christ.
How Jeremiah 32:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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