Bible Strands
Jeremiah 37:16
So Jeremiah went into a cell in the dungeon and remained there a long time.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrative describes Jeremiah moving into a cell within a cistern-house after officials beat him and confined him in Jonathan the scribe's property. This event follows his initial imprisonment and precedes King Zedekiah's private palace audience.
The words — כִּי (ki) functions as a narrative connector meaning "for" or "so," while בָּא (ba') means "he went." The compound phrase בֵּית הַבּוֹר (beit ha-bor) literally denotes "house of the cistern," and חֲנֻיוֹת (chanuyot) specifies "cells" or enclosed compartments within that structure.
The thread — The text's physical restriction motif continues in Jeremiah 38:6 when Jeremiah is lowered into a cistern and is later rescued by royal command in Jeremiah 38:10. The same theme of unjust confinement appears in Genesis 40:15, where a prisoner notes he was put in custody without cause.
Why it lands — The text records a prolonged physical restriction without recording a new prophecy or immediate deliverance. It requires the reader to observe how prophetic witness persists in isolation, independent of royal attention or physical freedom.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon, and into the cabins, and Jeremiah had remained there many days;
Cross-references
- 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 water but only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.
- Jeremiah 38:10 So the king commanded Ebed-melech the Cushite, “Take thirty men from here with you and pull Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”
- 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.”
- Lamentations 3:53 They dropped me alive into a pit and cast stones upon me.
- Lamentations 3:55 I called on Your name, O LORD, out of the depths of the Pit.