But when I arrived at the Benjamin Gate, the captain of the guard named Irijah, son of Shelemiah, grandson of Hananiah, seized me and accused me of trying to desert to the Babylonians.
Then he commanded Prince Jerahmeel, together with Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel, to arrest me and my scribe Baruch, but Yahweh had hidden us.
‘After the death of Jehoiada the priest, Yahweh chose you to be the priest in charge of the temple security. You know that anyone who acts crazy and pretends to be a prophet should be arrested and put in chains and iron collars.
I saw the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy believers—drunk on the blood of the loyal martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I was utterly astonished!
Do not yield to fear in the face of the suffering to come but be aware of this: the devil is about to have some of you thrown into prison to test your faith. For ten days you will have distress but remain faithful to the day you die, and I will give you the victor’s crown of life.
Which prophet was not persecuted and murdered by your ancestors? Name just one! They killed them all—even the ones who prophesied long ago of the coming of the Righteous One! Now you follow in their steps and have become his betrayers and murderers.
When Jeremiah had finished speaking the message Yahweh had ordered him to give to the people, all the priests, prophets, and people forcefully seized him and said, “You ought to be killed for this!
Upon hearing about this, the leaders of Judah went up from the royal palace to the temple of Yahweh and took their seats to hold court at the gate of Yahweh’s temple.
So King Zedekiah gave orders to confine me to the palace guardhouse. Each day a loaf of bread from the bakery was given to me until all the bread of the city was gone. So I remained there in the palace courtyard.