37:1 And king Zedekiah (598-586 B.C.) the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah (100 days) the son of Jehoiakim (608 to 598 BC), whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.

2 But neither he, nor his (Gemini) servants, nor the (Gemini) people of the land, did (lunar ear) hearken unto the words of the Lord, which he spake by the (Orion) prophet Jeremiah.

3 And Zedekiah the king (red radius line) sent (Gemini) Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to the (Orion) prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now unto the Lord our God for us.

4 Now Jeremiah (red radius line) came in and went out among the (Gemini) people: for they had not put him into prison.

5 Then Pharaoh's army was come forth out of Egypt (588 B.C.): and when the (Gemini, Orion and Auriga) Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem.

After this temporary diversion, caused by Pharaoh in favor of Jerusalem, the Egyptians returned no more to its help (2Ki 24:7). Judea had the misfortune to lie between the two great contending powers, Babylon and Egypt, and so was exposed to the alternate inroads of the one or the other. Josiah, taking side with Assyria, fell in battle with Pharaoh-necho at Megiddo (2Ki 23:29). Zedekiah, seeking the Egyptian alliance in violation of his oath, was now about to be taken by Nebuchadnezzar (2Ch 36:13; Eze 17:15, 17).

This Pharaoh was Pharaoh Hophra (44:30), successor of Psammuthis, and ascended the throne B. C. 588. In the first, or at least the second year of his reign, seventeen years after the battle of Carchemish, he undertook to make war on Nebuchadnezzar, occasioned probably by the embassy of Zedekiah (Ezek. 17:15). Hophra was slain (comp. Ezek. 29:1–16; chh. 30–32) and the hopes excited in the Israelites by the withdrawal of the Chaldeans were shown to be nugatory.

6 Then came the (red radius line) word of the Lord unto the (Orion) prophet Jeremiah saying,

7 Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say to the king of Judah, that sent you unto me to enquire of me; Behold, Pharaoh's army, which is come forth to help you (588 B.C.), shall return to Egypt into their own land.

8 And the Chaldeans shall come again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire (586 B.C.).

9 Thus saith the Lord; Deceive not yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans (Gemini, Orion and Auriga) shall surely depart from us: for they shall not depart.

10 For though ye had (red radius line) smitten the whole (Milky Way) army of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there remained but (bloody radius line Gemini, Orion and Auriga) wounded men among them, yet should they rise up every man in his (red radius) tent, and (solar) burn this city with fire.

11 And it came to pass, that when the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh's army,

12 Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to separate himself thence in the midst of the people.

13 And when he was in the (solar) gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah (Auriga), the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans.

14 Then (red radius line) said (Orion) Jeremiah, It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him: so Irijah took Jeremiah, and brought him to the (Gemini) princes.

15 Wherefore the (Gemini) princes were wroth with (Orion) Jeremiah, and (red radius line) smote him, and put him in (red radius barred) prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made that the prison.

16 When Jeremiah (Orion) was entered into the (red radius) dungeon, and into the (red radius) cabins, and Jeremiah (Orion) had remained there many days;

17 Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took him out: and the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, Is there any word from the Lord? And Jeremiah said, There is: for, said he, thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.

18 Moreover Jeremiah said unto king Zedekiah, What have I offended against thee, or against thy (Gemini) servants, or against this people, that ye have put me in prison?

19 Where are now your (Gemini) prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?

20 Therefore (lunar ear) 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.

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

38:1 Then Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of Malchiah, (red radius line) heard the words that Jeremiah had (red radius line) spoken unto all the people, saying,

2 Thus saith the Lord, He that remaineth in this city shall die by the (red radius line) sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that (red radius line) goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live.

3 Thus saith the Lord, This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon's (Milky Way) army, which shall take it.

4 Therefore the (Gemini and Orion and Auriga) princes said unto the king (Cepheus), We beseech thee, let this man (Orion) be put to (red radius line) death: for thus he (red radius line) weakeneth the hands of the (Gemini) men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the (Gemini) people, in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this (Gemini) people, but the hurt.

5 Then Zedekiah the king (Cepheus) said, Behold, he is in your (red radius line) hand: for the king (Cepheus) is not he that can do any thing against you.

6 Then took they Jeremiah (Orion), and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with (red radius line) cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but (Eridanus) mire: so Jeremiah (Orion) sunk in the (Eridanus) mire.

7 Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs which was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin;

8 Ebedmelech went forth out of the king's house, and spake to the (Cepheus) king saying,

9 My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to (Orion) Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more (solar) bread in the city.

10 Then the king (Cepheus) commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty (Milky Way) men with thee, and take up Jeremiah (Orion) the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die.

11 So Ebedmelech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took thence old cast clouts (rags) and old rotten rags, and let them down by (red radius line) cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.

12 And Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now these old cast clouts (rags) and rotten rags under thine armholes under the (red radius line) cords. And Jeremiah (Orion) did so.

13 So they drew up Jeremiah (Orion) with (red radius line) cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.

14 Then Zedekiah the king (Cepheus) sent, and took Jeremiah (Orion) the prophet unto him into the third entry that is in the house of the Lord: and the king said unto Jeremiah, I will ask thee a thing; hide nothing from me.

15 Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, If I declare it unto thee, wilt thou not surely put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, wilt thou not hearken unto me?

16 So Zedekiah the king sware secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, As the Lord liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these (Gemini) men that seek thy life.

17 Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon's princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live, and thine house:

18 But if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand.

19 And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the (Gemini) Jews that are fallen to the (Gemini) Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me.

20 But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the Lord, which I speak unto thee: so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live.

21 But if thou refuse to go forth, this is the word that the Lord hath shewed me:

22 And, behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah's (red radius line) house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon's (Gemini) princes, and those women shall say, Thy friends have set thee on, and have prevailed against thee: thy (Orion) feet are sunk in the mire, and they are turned away back.

23 So they shall bring out all thy (Gemini) wives and thy (Gemini) children to the Chaldeans: and thou shalt not escape out of their (red radius line) hand, but shalt be taken by the (red radius line) hand of the king of Babylon: and thou shalt cause this city to be (solar) burned with fire.

24 Then said Zedekiah unto Jeremiah, Let no man know of these words, and thou shalt not die.

25 But if the (Gemini) princes hear that I have talked with thee, and they come unto thee, and say unto thee, Declare unto us now what thou hast said unto the king (Cepheus), hide it not from us, and we will not put thee to death; also what the (Cepheus) king said unto thee:

26 Then thou shalt say unto them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's house, to die there.

27 Then came all the (Gemini and Auriga) princes unto (Orion) Jeremiah, and asked him: and he told them according to all these words that the (Cepheus) king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him; for the matter was not perceived.

28 So Jeremiah abode in the court of the (red radius bar) prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken: and he was there when Jerusalem was taken.