Bible Strands
Jeremiah 37:20
But 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.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah addresses King Zedekiah after the monarch questioned the false prophets who guaranteed Jerusalem's safety. He delivers this plea while detained and fearing a return to a specific confinement.
The words — The text uses שְׁמַע (she.ma') for "listen" and תְּחִנָּתִי (te.chi.na.Ti) for "my petition." These terms frame the prophet's request as a formal appeal demanding royal attention.
The thread — The plea echoes the theme of royal accountability found in Jeremiah 26:15 regarding innocent blood and Jeremiah 36:7 concerning petitions before the Lord. Jeremiah’s confinement also parallels the imprisonment described in Jeremiah 38:6.
Why it lands — The verse demands a ruler to weigh a prophet's warning against political pressure and false counsel. It requires the reader to recognize that ignoring divine warning through a prophet carries immediate mortal consequences.
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
Therefore hear now, I pray thee, O my lord the king: let my supplication, I pray thee, be accepted before thee; that thou cause me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 36:7 Perhaps they will bring their petition before the LORD, and each one will turn from his wicked way; for great are the anger and fury that the LORD has pronounced against this people.”
- Jeremiah 26:15 But know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves, upon this city, and upon its residents; for truly the LORD has sent me to speak all these words in your hearing.”
- 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 38:26 then tell them, ‘I was presenting to the king my petition that he not return me to the house of Jonathan to die there.’”
- Acts 23:16 But when the son of Paul’s sister heard about the plot, he went into the barracks and told Paul.
- Acts 25:10 Paul replied, “I am standing before the judgment seat of Caesar, where I ought to be tried. I have done nothing wrong to the Jews, as you yourself know very well.
- Acts 28:18 They examined me and wanted to release me, because there was no basis for a death sentence against me.