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Jeremiah 37:21

in Jeremiah 37

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 the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard; and they gave him daily a loaf of bread out of the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

KJV

Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city were spent. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.

This verse in Jeremiah 37

Commentary

7 notes on this verse
The prison - the watch (marginal reference). Piece - literally, a circle, i. e., a round cake. The bakers’ street - It is usual in oriental towns for each trade to have a special place set apart for it. Compare Act 10:6.

This site's exposition

So Jeremiah went into a cell in the dungeon

on Jeremiah 37:16-21

Jeremiah stays in the dungeon “a long time” until Zedekiah sends for him. The answer is unchanged: “You will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.” Jeremiah pleads not to be returned to Jonathan’s house, and the king moves him to “the courtyard of the guard.”

This site's exposition

a loaf of bread daily from the street of the bakers

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that each trade in an Eastern city kept to its own street. Barnes explains the loaf as a round cake. The same commentators add that the supply lasted until Jeremiah was put into the dungeon of Malchiah in chapter 38, when the bread ran out.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

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

Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

court of the prison-- (Jer 32:2; 38:13, 28). bakers' street--Persons in the same business in cities in the East commonly reside in the same street. all the bread . . . spent--Jeremiah had bread supplied to him until he was thrown into the dungeon of Malchiah, at which time the bread in the city was spent.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Then Zedekiah - the court of the prison - Was contiguous to the king’s house, where the prisoners could readily see their friends. Give him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers' street - From the public stores; which he received till all the provisions were spent.

The words behind it

25 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.

  • וַיְצַוֶּ֞הand he commanded

    vaytzavehH6680 →494 times

  • הַמֶּ֣לֶךְthe king

    hamelekhH4428 →2525 times

  • צִדְקִיָּ֗הוּZedekiah

    tzidkiyahuH6667 →63 times

  • וַיַּפְקִ֣דוּand they deposited

    vaiyafkiduH6485 →303 times

  • אֶֽת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • יִרְמְיָהוּ֮Jeremiah

    yirmeyahuH3414 →147 times

  • בַּחֲצַ֣רin [the] courtyard of

    bachatzarH2691 →191 times

  • הַמַּטָּרָה֒the guard

    hamatarahH4307 →16 times

  • וְנָתֹן֩and they gave

    venatonH5414 →2011 times

  • ל֨וֹto <the> him

    lo

  • כִכַּר־a round loaf of

    khikar-H3603 →

  • לֶ֤חֶםbread

    lechemH3899 →298 times

  • לַיּוֹם֙to the day

    laiyomH3117 →2304 times

  • מִח֣וּץfrom [the] street of

    michutzH2351 →164 times

  • הָאֹפִ֔יםthe bakers

    haofimH644 →

  • עַד־until

    ʾad-H5704 →1261 times

  • תֹּ֥םwas finished

    tomH8552 →63 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • הַלֶּ֖חֶםthe bread

    halechemH3899 →298 times

  • מִן־from

    min-H4480 →1188 times

  • הָעִ֑ירthe city

    hairH5892 →1090 times

  • וַיֵּ֣שֶׁבand he remained

    vaiyeshevH3427 →1079 times

  • יִרְמְיָ֔הוּJeremiah

    yirmeyahuH3414 →147 times

  • בַּחֲצַ֖רin [the] courtyard of

    bachatzarH2691 →191 times

  • הַמַּטָּרָֽה׃the guard

    hamatarahH4307 →16 times

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

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

    Jeremiah 32:2

    At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard, which was in the palace of the king of…

    it leads to

    • Nehemiah 3:25

      and Palal son of Uzai made repairs opposite the angle and the tower that juts out from the upper palace of the king near the courtyard of the guard. Next to him, Pedaiah son…

    • 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…

    • Jeremiah 33:1

      While Jeremiah was still confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him a second time:

  • Through

    Jeremiah 52:6

    By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city was so severe that the people of the land had no food.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 3:1

      For behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts is about to remove from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support: the whole supply of food and water,

    • Jeremiah 39:2

      And on the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, the city was breached.

  • Through

    Jeremiah 38:28

    And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 39:14

      had Jeremiah brought from the courtyard of the guard, and they turned him over to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him home. So Jeremiah remained among his own people.

    • Jeremiah 38:13

      and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

    • Jeremiah 15:20–21

      Then I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you to save and deliver…

About Jeremiah

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; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.