11. The Babylonian army retreated from Jerusalem because the Egyptian army was approaching.
12. So I started to leave Jerusalem and go to the territory of Benjamin to take possession of my share of the family property.
13. But when I reached the Benjamin Gate, the officer in charge of the soldiers on duty there, a man by the name of Irijah, the son of Shelemiah and grandson of Hananiah, stopped me and said, “You are deserting to the Babylonians!”
14. I answered, “That's not so! I'm not deserting.” But Irijah would not listen to me. Instead, he arrested me and took me to the officials.
15. They were furious with me and ordered me to be beaten and locked up in the house of Jonathan, the court secretary, whose house had been made into a prison.