Jeremiah 37:21

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

Then King Zedekiah ordered that Jeremiah be committed to the courtyard of the guardhouse. He also ordered that a loaf of bread be given to him every day from the baker’s street until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah was kept in the courtyard of the guardhouse.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וַיְצַוֶּ֞ה הַמֶּ֣לֶךְ צִדְקִיָּ֗הוּ וַיַּפְקִ֣דוּ אֶֽת־יִרְמְיָהוּ֮ בַּחֲצַ֣ר הַמַּטָּרָה֒ וְנָתֹן֩ ל֨וֹ כִכַּר־לֶ֤חֶם לַיּוֹם֙ מִח֣וּץ הָאֹפִ֔ים עַד־תֹּ֥ם כָּל־הַלֶּ֖חֶם מִן־הָעִ֑יר וַיֵּ֣שֶׁב יִרְמְיָ֔הוּ בַּחֲצַ֖ר הַמַּטָּרָֽה׃

Transliteration

And-wayṣawweh the-meleḵ Ṣidqiyyāhû and-wayyap̄qiḏû ʾet-Yirməyāhû in-ḥăṣar the-maṭṭārāh and-giving to-him kikkar-leḥem for-the-yôm from-ḥûṣ the-ʾōp̄îm until-tōm all-the-leḥem from-the-ʿîr and-wayyēšeḇ Yirməyāhû in-ḥăṣar the-maṭṭārāh.

Grammar Details

• *wayṣawweh*: waw-consecutive + Piel imperfect 3rd masculine singular - and he commanded
• *meleḵ*: masculine singular noun with definite article - the king
• *Ṣidqiyyāhû*: proper noun - Zedekiah
• *wayyap̄qiḏû*: waw-consecutive + Hiphil imperfect 3rd masculine plural - and they committed
• *Yirməyāhû*: proper noun - Jeremiah
• *ḥăṣar*: masculine singular construct - court of
• *maṭṭārāh*: feminine singular noun with definite article - the guard
• *nātōn*: Qal infinitive absolute - giving
• *kikkar*: masculine singular construct - loaf of
• *leḥem*: masculine singular noun with definite article - the bread
• *yôm*: masculine singular noun with definite article - the day
• *ḥûṣ*: masculine singular construct - street of
• *ʾōp̄îm*: masculine plural noun with definite article - the bakers
• *tōm*: Qal infinitive construct - finishing/being consumed
• *ʿîr*: feminine singular noun with definite article - the city
• *wayyēšeḇ*: waw-consecutive + Qal imperfect 3rd masculine singular - and he remained

Word Meanings

• *ḥăṣar* the-*maṭṭārāh*: court of the prison/courtyard of the guard
• *kikkar*-*leḥem*: loaf of bread/round of bread
• *ḥûṣ* the-*ʾōp̄îm*: bakers' street/bakers' quarter

Referenced Verses

• Jer 38:13 : 13 So they pulled Jeremiah up from the cistern with ropes. Jeremiah, however, still remained confined to the courtyard of the guardhouse.
• Jer 38:28 : 28 So Jeremiah remained confined in the courtyard of the guardhouse until the day Jerusalem was captured.The Fall of Jerusalem and Its AftermathThe following events occurred when Jerusalem was captured.
• Jer 38:9 : 9 “Your royal Majesty, those men have been very wicked in all that they have done to the prophet Jeremiah. They have thrown him into a cistern and he is sure to die of starvation there because there is no food left in the city.”
• Jer 32:2 : 2 Now at that time, the armies of the king of Babylon were besieging Jerusalem. The prophet Jeremiah was confined in the courtyard of the guardhouse attached to the royal palace of Judah.
• Jer 52:6 : 6 By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city was so severe the residents had no food.
• Isa 33:16 : 16 This is the person who will live in a secure place; he will find safety in the rocky, mountain strongholds; he will have food and a constant supply of water.
• 2 Kgs 25:3 : 3 By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city was so severe the residents had no food.
• Job 5:20 : 20 In time of famine he will redeem you from death, and in time of war from the power of the sword.
• Ps 33:18-19 : 18 Look, the LORD takes notice of his loyal followers, those who wait for him to demonstrate his faithfulness 19 by saving their lives from death and sustaining them during times of famine.
• Ps 34:9-9 : 9 Fear the LORD, you chosen people of his, for those who fear him lack nothing! 10 Even young lions sometimes lack food and are hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
• Ps 37:3 : 3 Trust in the LORD and do what is right! Settle in the land and maintain your integrity!
• Ps 37:19 : 19 They will not be ashamed when hard times come; when famine comes they will have enough to eat.
• Prov 16:7 : 7 When a person’s ways are pleasing to the LORD, he even reconciles his enemies to himself.
• Prov 21:1 : 1 The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD like channels of water; he turns it wherever he wants.
• Jer 39:14-15 : 14 sent and had Jeremiah brought from the courtyard of the guardhouse. They turned him over to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam and the grandson of Shaphan, to take him home with him. But Jeremiah stayed among the people. 15 Ebed Melech Is Promised Deliverance because of His Faith Now the LORD’s message had come to Jeremiah while he was still confined in the courtyard of the guardhouse,
• Jer 32:8 : 8 And then my cousin Hanamel did come to me in the courtyard of the guardhouse in keeping with the LORD’s message. He said to me,‘Buy my field which is at Anathoth in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin. Buy it for yourself since you are entitled as my closest relative to take possession of it for yourself.’ When this happened, I recognized that the LORD had indeed spoken to me.
• Deut 28:52-57 : 52 They will besiege all of your villages until all of your high and fortified walls collapse– those in which you put your confidence throughout the land. They will besiege all your villages throughout the land the LORD your God has given you. 53 You will then eat your own offspring, the flesh of the sons and daughters the LORD your God has given you, because of the severity of the siege by which your enemies will constrict you. 54 The man among you who is by nature tender and sensitive will turn against his brother, his beloved wife, and his remaining children. 55 He will withhold from all of them his children’s flesh that he is eating(since there is nothing else left), because of the severity of the siege by which your enemy will constrict you in your villages. 56 Likewise, the most tender and delicate of your women, who would never think of putting even the sole of her foot on the ground because of her daintiness, will turn against her beloved husband, her sons and daughters, 57 and will secretly eat her afterbirth and her newborn children(since she has nothing else), because of the severity of the siege by which your enemy will constrict you in your villages.
• 1 Kgs 17:4-6 : 4 Drink from the stream; I have already told the ravens to bring you food there.” 5 So he carried out the LORD’s message; he went and lived in the Kerith Valley near the Jordan. 6 The ravens would bring him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he would drink from the stream.
• Lam 2:11-12 : 11 כ(Kaf) My eyes are worn out from weeping; my stomach is in knots. My heart is poured out on the ground due to the destruction of my helpless people; children and infants faint in the town squares. 12 ל(Lamed) Children say to their mothers,“Where are food and drink?” They faint like a wounded warrior in the city squares. They die slowly in their mothers’ arms.
• Lam 2:19-20 : 19 ק(Qof) Get up! Cry out in the night when the night watches start! Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord! Lift up your hands to him for your children’s lives; they are fainting from hunger at every street corner. 20 ר(Resh)Jerusalem Speaks: Look, O LORD! Consider! Whom have you ever afflicted like this? Should women eat their offspring, their healthy infants? Should priest and prophet be killed in the Lord’s sanctuary?
• Lam 4:4-5 : 4 ד(Dalet) The infant’s tongue sticks to the roof of its mouth due to thirst; little children beg for bread, but no one gives them even a morsel. 5 ה(He) Those who once feasted on delicacies are now starving to death in the streets. Those who grew up wearing expensive clothes are now dying amid garbage.
• Lam 4:9-9 : 9 ט(Tet) Those who died by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, those who waste away, struck down from lack of food. 10 י(Yod) The hands of tenderhearted women cooked their own children, who became their food, when my people were destroyed.
• Lam 5:10 : 10 Our skin is hot as an oven due to a fever from hunger.
• Matt 6:33 : 33 But above all pursue his kingdom and righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
• Acts 12:5 : 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but those in the church were earnestly praying to God for him.
• Acts 24:27 : 27 After two years had passed, Porcius Festus succeeded Felix, and because he wanted to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison.
• Acts 28:16 : 16 When we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with the soldier who was guarding him.
• Acts 28:30 : 30 Paul lived there two whole years in his own rented quarters and welcomed all who came to him,
• Eph 4:1 : 1 Live in Unity I, therefore, the prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live worthily of the calling with which you have been called,
• Eph 6:20 : 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may be able to speak boldly as I ought to speak.
• 2 Tim 1:8 : 8 So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me, a prisoner for his sake, but by God’s power accept your share of suffering for the gospel.
• 2 Tim 2:9 : 9 for which I suffer hardship to the point of imprisonment as a criminal, but God’s message is not imprisoned!