The arrest of Jeremiah (Jer 37:13-37:16)

“When Jeremiah reached

The Benjamin Gate,

A sentinel named Irijah

The son of Shelemiah,

The son of Hananiah,

Arrested the prophet Jeremiah.

Saying.

‘You are deserting

To the Chaldeans.’

Jeremiah said.

‘That is a lie.

I am not deserting

To the Chaldeans.’

But Irijah would not listen

To him.

He arrested Jeremiah.

He brought him

To the officials.

The officials were enraged

At Jeremiah.

They beat him.

They imprisoned him

In the house

Of the secretary Jonathan.

It had been made a prison.

Thus Jeremiah was put

In the vaulted dungeon,

In a cistern cell.

He remained there many days.”

This is not a personal account but a 3^rd person description of Jeremiah leaving by the north gate of Jerusalem, the Benjamin Gate. As Jeremiah was leaving the city, a sentinel by the name of Irijah stopped him at the gate. This guard had the same father as Jehucal, the representative of King Zedekiah earlier in this chapter, Shelemiah. This Irijah would have been the brother of Jehucal. Irijah thought that Jeremiah might be going to get the Chaldeans to return to besiege the city. He said that Jeremiah was attempting to desert to the enemy camp of the Babylonians. Jeremiah maintained that this was a lie. However, Irijah ignored Jeremiah’s explanation and still arrested him. He brought him to the city officials who were angry at Jeremiah already for his dire predictions about their defeat. Thus they beat him up and put him in a make shift prison in the house of the secretary Jonathan that had a vaulted dungeon like cell, where he remained there for many but unspecified days.