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Jeremiah 37:15

in Jeremiah 37

The officials were angry with Jeremiah, and they beat him and placed him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for it had been made into a prison.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe; for they had made that the prison.

KJV

Wherefore the princes were wroth with Jeremiah, and smote him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the prison.

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This verse in Jeremiah 37

Commentary

8 notes on this verse

A commentator

Basil of Caesarea

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 14:3 (PS 29) · Written before 379.

Thus there is the expression in Exodus: "From the firstborn of Pharaoh to the firstborn of the captive woman who was in the pit." But they even threw Jeremiah also into a pit. His brothers through jealousy confined Joseph in a pit without water. Each act, therefore, either draws us downward by oppressing us with sin or lifts us upward by raising us on wings toward God. Therefore, you have saved me, I who formerly lived a wicked life, and have separated me from those who go down to the dark and frigid region.

This site's exposition

When the Chaldean army withdrew from Jerusalem

on Jeremiah 37:11-15

While the Chaldeans are withdrawn, Jeremiah sets out for Benjamin “to claim his portion there among the people.” Irijah seizes him with the charge, “You are deserting to the Chaldeans!” Jeremiah answers, “That is a lie,” but he is beaten and jailed in the house of Jonathan the scribe.

This site's exposition

they beat him and placed him in jail

The officials beat Jeremiah without proof or any form of justice, as Clarke observes. The house of Jonathan the scribe was made into a jail. Barnes takes it as the house of a high officer of the king, and Clarke adds that such officers kept a room for the accused.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

On Jacob and the Blessed Life 1.9.42 · Written before 397.

proposed

Would anyone deny that Joseph was blessed in prison, where he interpreted dreams by the spirit of wisdom, revealing the truth and the sequence of future events? Would anyone deny that Isaiah was blessed when he was sawn in half? Jeremiah, when he was thrown into a pit? Daniel, when he stood unharmed among the lions, with the prophet's meal brought to him by an angel? Certainly, they were blessed not because they ate a meal that did not belong to them, but because they closed the mouths of the lions with their merits.

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

Wherefore the princes were wroth with Jeremiah,....

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Thus have the blackest characters been put upon the fairest purest minds, and, in such a malicious world as this is, innocency, nay, excellency itself, is no fence against the basest calumny. When at any time we are thus falsely accused we may do as Jeremiah did, boldly deny the charge and then commit our cause to him that judges righteously.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

And smote him - Without any proof of the alleged treachery, without any form of justice. In prison to the house of Jonathan - In Asiatic countries there is an apartment in the houses of the officers of the law, to confine all the accused that are brought before them. Jonathan was a scribe or secretary, and had a prison of this kind in his house.
The house - Probably the official residence of the secretary of state.

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

and to the cells Jonathan renders: within the cells. There were cells before that prison.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Jeremiah 37:16:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

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

18 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וַיִּקְצְפ֧וּand they were angry

    vaiyiktzefuH7107 →

  • הַשָּׂרִ֛יםthe officials

    hasarimH8269 →421 times

  • עַֽל־towards

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • יִרְמְיָ֖הוּJeremiah

    yirmeyahuH3414 →147 times

  • וְהִכּ֣וּand they struck

    vehikuH5221 →499 times

  • אֹת֑וֹ<obj.> him

    ʾotoH853 →10935 times

  • וְנָתְנ֨וּand they put

    venatenuH5414 →2011 times

  • אוֹת֜וֹ<obj.> him

    ʾotoH853 →10935 times

  • בֵּ֣ית[the] house of

    beitH1004 →2046 times

  • הָאֵס֗וּר<the> fetter[s]

    haesurH612 →

  • בֵּ֚ית[the] house of

    beitH1004 →2046 times

  • יְהוֹנָתָ֣ןJonathan

    yehonatanH3083 →81 times

  • הַסֹּפֵ֔רthe scribe

    hasoferH5608 →159 times

  • כִּֽי־for

    ki-H3588 →4482 times

  • אֹת֥וֹ<obj.> it

    ʾotoH853 →10935 times

  • עָשׂ֖וּthey had made

    ʾasuH6213 →2628 times

  • לְבֵ֥יתinto [the] house of

    leveitH1004 →2046 times

  • הַכֶּֽלֶא׃<the> imprisonment

    hakele'H3608 →10 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

18 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Jeremiah 38:26then tell them, ‘I was presenting to the king my petition that he not return me to the house of Jonathan to die there.’”4 worksJeremiah 37:4Now Jeremiah was free to come and go among the people, for they had not yet put him in prison.4 worksJeremiah 26:16Then the officials and all the people told the priests and prophets, “This man is not worthy of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God!”3 worksMatthew 21:35But the tenants seized his servants. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.3 worksGenesis 39:20So Joseph’s master took him and had him thrown into the prison where the king’s prisoners were confined. While Joseph was there in the prison,3 works2 Chronicles 16:10Asa was angry with the seer and became so enraged over this matter that he put the man in prison. And at the same time Asa oppressed some of the people.3 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
Acts 5:18and arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.3 works2 Chronicles 18:26and tell them that this is what the king says: ‘Put this man in prison and feed him only bread and water until I return safely.’”3 worksJeremiah 20:1–3When Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer and the chief official in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things,3 worksExodus 23:2You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd.3 worksMatthew 23:34Because of this, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and others you will flog in your synagogues and persecute in town after town.2 worksLuke 22:64They blindfolded Him and kept demanding, “Prophesy! Who hit You?”2 worksLuke 20:10–11At harvest time, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat the servant and sent him away empty-handed.2 worksJeremiah 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 water but only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.2 worksJeremiah 37:20But now please listen, O my lord the king. May my petition come before you. Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I will die there.”2 works2 Corinthians 11:23–27Are they servants of Christ? I am speaking like I am out of my mind, but I am so much more: in harder labor, in more imprisonments, in worse beatings, in frequent danger of death.2 worksActs 12:4–6He arrested him and put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out to the people after the Passover.2 worksActs 5:28“We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us responsible for this man’s blood.”2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each 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

    Matthew 21:35

    But the tenants seized his servants. They beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.

    it leads to

    • 2 Chronicles 36:15–16

      Again and again the LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to His people through His messengers because He had compassion on them and on His dwelling place.

    • Hebrews 11:36–37

      Still others endured mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.

    • Nehemiah 9:26

      But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they flung Your law behind their backs. They killed Your prophets, who had admonished them to return to You. They committed terrible blasphemies.

    • Matthew 5:12

      Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets before you.

    • Acts 7:52

      Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers—

  • Through

    Genesis 39:20

    So Joseph’s master took him and had him thrown into the prison where the king’s prisoners were confined. While Joseph was there in the prison,

    it leads to

    • Genesis 40:15

      For I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and even here I have done nothing for which they should have put me in this dungeon.”

  • Through

    Jeremiah 26:16

    Then the officials and all the people told the priests and prophets, “This man is not worthy of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God!”

    it leads to

    • Acts 5:34–39

      But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a short time.

    • Acts 25:25

      But I found he had done nothing worthy of death, and since he has now appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him.

About Jeremiah

Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, Rembrandt, 1630. Public domain.
Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, Rembrandt, 1630. Public domain.
Jeremiah: the study guide →Read Jeremiah 37 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, On Jacob and the Blessed Life 1.9.42; Basil of Caesarea, HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 14:3 (PS 29); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Jeremiah 37 →