Jeremiah 37:16
in Jeremiah 37So Jeremiah went into a cell in the dungeon and remained there a long time.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
When Jeremiah was come into the dungeon-house, and into the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there many days;
KJV
When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon, and into the cabins, and Jeremiah had remained there many days;
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This verse in Jeremiah 37
Commentary
6 notes on this verseEntered into the dungeon, and into the cabins - The dungeon was probably a deep pit; and the cabins or cells, niches in the sides, where different malefactors were confined. See Blayney.
This site's exposition
entered into the dungeon, and into the cabins
on Jeremiah 37:16-21
Jeremiah is left in the dungeon and its cabins many days before Zedekiah sends secretly for him, and the king's question, is there any word from the Lord?, is put privately, away from the princes who wanted him dead. Jeremiah answers without softening it, there is: for, said he, thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, refusing to trade the message for his own relief even while asking the king directly not to be sent back to Jonathan's house to die. Zedekiah grants the smaller mercy and withholds the larger: he moves Jeremiah to the court of the prison with a daily ration of bread, a king who fears the prophet's God enough to spare his life and fears his own princes too much to set him free, as the bench reads the scene's whole pathos.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
4 Now Jeremiah came in and went out among the people: for they had not put him into prison. 5 Then Pharaoh's army was come forth out of Egypt: and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
The dungeon - The Hebrew words signify some pit, or deep hole, where were some cells or apartments, in which they were wont to keep those whom they judged great malefactors.
When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Dungeon - literally, house of a cistern or pit, and evidently underground. In this cistern-like excavation were several cells or arched vaults, in one of which with little light and less ventilation Jeremiah remained a long time.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
and to the cells Jonathan renders: within the cells. There were cells before that prison.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
13 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֣י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| בָ֧א | va' | he went | H935 → | 2568 times |
| יִרְמְיָ֛הוּ | yirmeyahu | Jeremiah | H3414 → | 147 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | into | H413 → | 5510 times |
| בֵּ֥ית | beit | [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| הַבּ֖וֹר | habor | the cistern | H953 → | 66 times |
| וְאֶל־ | veel- | and into | H413 → | 5510 times |
| הַֽחֲנֻ֑יוֹת | hachanuyot | the cell | H2588 → | |
| וַיֵּֽשֶׁב־ | vaiyeshev- | and he remained | H3427 → | 1079 times |
| שָׁ֥ם | sham | there | H8033 → | 834 times |
| יִרְמְיָ֖הוּ | yirmeyahu | Jeremiah | H3414 → | 147 times |
| יָמִ֥ים | yamim | days | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| רַבִּֽים׃ פ | rabim | many | H7227 → | 454 times |
כִּ֣יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
בָ֧אhe went
va'H935 →2568 times
יִרְמְיָ֛הוּJeremiah
yirmeyahuH3414 →147 times
אֶל־into
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
בֵּ֥ית[the] house of
beitH1004 →2046 times
הַבּ֖וֹרthe cistern
haborH953 →66 times
וְאֶל־and into
veel-H413 →5510 times
הַֽחֲנֻ֑יוֹתthe cell
hachanuyotH2588 →
וַיֵּֽשֶׁב־and he remained
vaiyeshev-H3427 →1079 times
שָׁ֥םthere
shamH8033 →834 times
יִרְמְיָ֖הוּJeremiah
yirmeyahuH3414 →147 times
יָמִ֥יםdays
yamimH3117 →2304 times
רַבִּֽים׃ פmany
rabimH7227 →454 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 38:6So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah with ropes into the cistern, which had no…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 37:21
So King Zedekiah gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread daily from the street of the bakers, until all the bread in…
- Psalms 69:14–15
Rescue me from the mire and do not let me sink; deliver me from my foes and out of the deep waters.
- Psalms 69:2
I have sunk into the miry depths, where there is no footing; I have drifted into deep waters, where the flood engulfs me.
- Jeremiah 38:22
All the women who remain in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon, and those women will say: ‘They misled you and…
- Acts 16:24
On receiving this order, he placed them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
- Jeremiah 37:21
Through
Lamentations 3:53They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 38:6
So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah with ropes into the cistern, which had no…
- Daniel 6:17
A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings of his nobles, so that nothing concerning Daniel…
- Jeremiah 38:9
“My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have dropped him into the cistern, where he will starve to death, for there…
- Jeremiah 38:6
About Jeremiah
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Prophecies of Jeremiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.