4. Now Jeremiah hadn’t been imprisoned yet, so he was free to come and go among the people.
5. Pharaoh’s army had recently set out from Egypt; when the Babylonians who were attacking Jerusalem learned of the Egyptian advance, they withdrew from Jerusalem.)
6. Then the Lord’s word came to Jeremiah the prophet:
7. The Lord, the God of Israel, proclaims: Tell the king of Judah who sent his emissaries to seek advice from me: "Pharaoh’s army that came to assist you is heading back to Egypt.
8. The Babylonians will return and attack this city. They will capture it and burn it down."
9. The Lord proclaims: Don’t let yourself be deceived into thinking that the Babylonians will withdraw for good. They won’t!
10. Even if you were to crush the entire Babylonian army that’s attacking you and only the wounded in their tents remained, they would rise up and burn this city down.
11. Now when the Babylonian army had withdrawn from Jerusalem due to Pharaoh’s advance,
12. Jeremiah set out for the land of Benjamin to secure his share of the family property.
13. He got as far as the Benjamin Gate in Jerusalem when the guard there named Irijah, Shelemiah’s son and Hananiah’s grandson, arrested the prophet Jeremiah, saying, "You are deserting to the Babylonians."
14. "That’s a lie," Jeremiah replied. "I’m not deserting to the Babylonians." But Irijah wouldn’t listen to him. He arrested Jeremiah and brought him to the officials,
15. who were furious with him. They beat him and threw him into the house of the scribe Jonathan, which had been turned into a prison.
16. So Jeremiah was put in a cistern, which was like a dungeon, where he remained a long time.