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;
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;
- KJV 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;
- 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;
- 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 34:2–3“Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘Go, and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah, and tell him, Yahweh says, “Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.
- Jer 21:4–7‘Yahweh, the God of Israel says, “Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans who besiege you, without the walls; and I will gather them into the middle of this city.
- Jer 26:8–9When Jeremiah had finished speaking all that Yahweh had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, “You shall surely die!
- Jer 32:28–29Therefore Yahweh says: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it:
- 2 Chr 28:22In the time of his distress, he trespassed yet more against Yahweh, this same king Ahaz.
- Amos 7:13but don’t prophesy again any more at Bethel; for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a royal house!”
- Jer 37:6–10Then came Yahweh’s word to the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
- Jer 38:8Ebedmelech went out of the king’s house, and spoke to the king, saying,
- Luke 20:2They asked him, “Tell us: by what authority do you do these things? Or who is giving you this authority?”
- Acts 6:12–14They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, and came against him and seized him, and brought him in to the council,
- Jer 2:30“I have struck your children in vain. They received no correction. Your own sword has devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
- Jer 38:4Then the princes said to the king, “Please let this man be put to death; because he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them: for this man doesn’t seek the welfare of this people, but harm.”
- Jer 5:3O Yahweh, don’t your eyes look on truth? You have stricken them, but they were not grieved. You have 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 to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat stays on him today.”
- Exod 5:4The king of Egypt said to them, “Why do you, Moses and Aaron, take the people from their work? Get back to your burdens!”
- Jer 27:8“‘“‘It will happen that the nation and the kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish,’ says Yahweh, ‘with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.