Jeremiah 37
Jeremiah 37 is the thirty-seventh chapter of the Book of Jeremiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It is numbered as Jeremiah 44 in the Septuagint. This book contains prophecies attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. This chapter is the start of a narrative section consisting of chapters 37 to 44. Chapter 37 records King Zedekiah's request for prayer, Jeremiah's reply to the king, and Jeremiah's arrest and imprisonment.
Text
The original text was written in Hebrew. This chapter is divided into 21 verses.Textual witnesses
Some ancient manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis, the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets, Aleppo Codex, Codex Leningradensis.There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Alexandrinus and Codex Marchalianus.
Parashot
The parashah sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex. Jeremiah 37 is a part of the "Fifteenth prophecy " in the section of Prophecies interwoven with narratives about the prophet's life . : open parashah; : closed parashah.Verse numbering
The order of chapters and verses of the Book of Jeremiah in the English Bibles, Masoretic Text, and Vulgate, in some places differs from that in the Septuagint according to Rahlfs or Brenton. The following table is taken with minor adjustments from Brenton's Septuagint, page 971.The order of Computer Assisted Tools for Septuagint/Scriptural Study based on Alfred Rahlfs' Septuaginta, differs in some details from Joseph Ziegler's critical edition in Göttingen LXX. Swete's Introduction mostly agrees with Rahlfs' edition.
| Hebrew, Vulgate, English | Rahlfs' LXX |
| 37:1-21 | 44:1-21 |
| 30:1-9,12-14,16-21,23-24 | 37:1-9,12-14.16-21,23-24 |
| 30:10,15,22 | none |
Structure
The New King James Version divides this chapter into the following sections:- = Zedekiah's Vain Hope
- = Jeremiah Imprisoned
Zedekiah’s vain hope (37:1–10)
Verse 1
- Cross reference:
- "Coniah": the spelling of Jeconiah found in Jeremiah 22:24, 28 and 37:1; elsewhere in the book of Jeremiah it is spelled as "Jeconiah" and "Jehoiachin".
Verse 2
Verses 37:1–2 introduce the accounts in chapters 37–38 that Zedekiah and his regime was as disobedient as Jehoiakim and his regime, although Zedekiah was said to seek the Lord’s help or seek a word from the Lord, even sending to inquire of Jeremiah three times, but he did not pay attention to the warnings he received in reply, so was ultimately responsible for the fall of Jerusalem.Verse 3
- "Jehucal the son of Shelemiah": or "Jucal the son of Shelemiah" in Jeremiah 38:1. During the excavations in the ruins of the City of David conducted by the Ir David Foundation in 2005 a bulla was discovered with the inscription "belonging to Jehucal son of Shelemiah son of Shovi" which is thought to point to the person mentioned here.
Verse 5
- "Pharaoh": is Hophra (or Apries), the fourth king of the 26th dynasty of Egypt, ruling 589-570 BCE. His name is written as Ουαφρη, Ouaphre in the Greek Old Testament, Apries by Herodotus and Diodorus, or Waphres by Manetho, who correctly records that he reigned for 19 years. He forged an alliance with Zedekiah to rebel against Babylon, sending an army in the summer of 588 BCE. This caused the Chaldeans to temporarily lift the siege in Jerusalem to deal with the Egyptians, but eventually failed to prevent the fall of the city in July 587 BCE. In 570 BC Hophra was forced to rule together as co-regents with Amasis (or Ahmosis/Ahmose II), but three years later Hophra was overthrown and executed, while Amasis continued to be a sole ruler until his death in 526 BCE.