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Selected Verse: Jeremiah 37:16 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Jer 37:16	Strong Concordance	When Jeremiah [03414] was entered [0935] into the dungeon [01004] [0953], and into the cabins [02588], and Jeremiah [03414] had remained [03427] there many [07227] days [03117];
	King James	When Jeremiah was entered into the dungeon, and into the cabins, and Jeremiah had remained there many days;

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
dungeon . . . cabins--The prison consisted of a pit (the "dungeon") with vaulted cells round the sides of it. The "cabins," from a root, "to bend one's self."

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

dungeon . . . cabins--The prison consisted of a pit (the "dungeon") with vaulted cells round the sides of it. The "cabins," from a root, "to bend one's self."

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
Dungeon - literally, house of a cistern or pit, and evidently underground. In this cistern-like excavation were several cells or arched vaults, in one of which with little light and less ventilation Jeremiah remained a long time.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
Examination of the prophet by the king, and alleviation of his confinement. - Jer 37:16. "When Jeremiah had got into the dungeon and into the vaults, and had sat there many days, then Zedekiah the king sent and fetched him, and questioned him in his own house (palace) secretly," etc. Jer 37:16 is by most interpreters joined with the foregoing, but the words כּי בּא do not properly permit of this. For if we take the verse as a further confirmation of ויּקצפוּ השׂרים, "the princes vented their wrath on Jeremiah, beat him," etc., "for Jeremiah came...," then it must be acknowledged that the account would be very long and lumbering. כּי בּא is too widely separated from יקצפוּ. But the passages, Sa1 2:21, where כּי פּקד is supposed to stand for ויּפקד, and Isa 39:1, where ויּשׁמע is thought to have arisen out of כּי, Kg2 20:12, are not very strong proofs, since there, as here, no error in writing is marked. The Vulgate has itaque ingressus; many therefore would change כּי into כּן; but this also is quite arbitrary. Accordingly, with Rosenmller, we connect Jer 37:16 with the following, and take כּי as a temporal particle; in this, the most we miss is ו copulative, or ויהי. In the preceding sentence the prison of the prophet is somewhat minutely described, in order to prepare us for the request that follows in Jer 37:20. Jeremiah was in a בּית־בּור, "house of a pit," cf. Exo 12:29, i.e., a subterranean prison, and in החניּות. This word only occurs here; but in the kindred dialects it means vaults, stalls, shops; hence it possibly signifies here subterranean prison-cells, so that אל־החניּות more exactly determines what בּית־הבּור is. This meaning of the word is, at any rate, more certain than that given by Eb. Scheid in Rosenmller, who renders חניות by flexa, curvata; then, supplying ligna, he thinks of the stocks to which the prisoners were fastened. - The king questioned him בּסּתר, "in secret," namely, through fear of his ministers and court-officers, who were prejudiced against the prophet, perhaps also in the hope of receiving in a private interview a message from God of more favourable import. To the question of the king, "Is there any word from Jahveh?" Jeremiah replies in the affirmative; but the word of God is this, "Thou shalt be given into the hand of the king of Babylon," just as Jeremiah had previously announced to him; cf. Jer 32:4; Jer 34:3. - Jeremiah took this opportunity of complaining about his imprisonment, saying, Jer 37:18, "In what have I sinned against thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have put me in prison? Jer 37:19. And where are your prophets, who prophesied to you, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?" Jeremiah appeals to his perfect innocence (Jer 37:18), and to the confirmation of his prediction by its event. The interview with the king took place when the Chaldeans, after driving the Egyptians out of the country, had recommenced the siege of Jerusalem, and, as is evident from Jer 37:21, were pressing the city very hard. The Kethib איו is to be read איּו, formed from איּה with the suffix וׁ; the idea of the suffix has gradually become obscured, so that it stands here before a noun in the plural. The Qeri requires איּה. The question, Where are your prophets? means, Let these prophets come forward and vindicate their lying prophecies. Not what these men had prophesied, but what Jeremiah had declared had come to pass; his imprisonment, accordingly, was unjust. - Besides thus appealing to his innocence, Jeremiah, Jer 37:20, entreats the king, "Let my supplication come before thee, and do not send me back into the house of Jonathan the scribe, that I may not die there." For 'תּפּל־נא ת see on Jer 36:7. The king granted this request. "He commanded, and they put Jeremiah into the court of the watch [of the royal palace, see on Jer 32:2], and gave him a loaf of bread daily out of the bakers' street, till all the bread in the city was consumed;" cf. Jer 52:6. The king did not give him his liberty, because Jeremiah held to his views, that were so distasteful to the king (see on Jer 32:3). "So Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard."

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

Examination of the prophet by the king, and alleviation of his confinement. - Jer 37:16. "When Jeremiah had got into the dungeon and into the vaults, and had sat there many days, then Zedekiah the king sent and fetched him, and questioned him in his own house (palace) secretly," etc. Jer 37:16 is by most interpreters joined with the foregoing, but the words כּי בּא do not properly permit of this. For if we take the verse as a further confirmation of ויּקצפוּ השׂרים, "the princes vented their wrath on Jeremiah, beat him," etc., "for Jeremiah came...," then it must be acknowledged that the account would be very long and lumbering. כּי בּא is too widely separated from יקצפוּ. But the passages, Sa1 2:21, where כּי פּקד is supposed to stand for ויּפקד, and Isa 39:1, where ויּשׁמע is thought to have arisen out of כּי, Kg2 20:12, are not very strong proofs, since there, as here, no error in writing is marked. The Vulgate has itaque ingressus; many therefore would change כּי into כּן; but this also is quite arbitrary. Accordingly, with Rosenmller, we connect Jer 37:16 with the following, and take כּי as a temporal particle; in this, the most we miss is ו copulative, or ויהי. In the preceding sentence the prison of the prophet is somewhat minutely described, in order to prepare us for the request that follows in Jer 37:20. Jeremiah was in a בּית־בּור, "house of a pit," cf. Exo 12:29, i.e., a subterranean prison, and in החניּות. This word only occurs here; but in the kindred dialects it means vaults, stalls, shops; hence it possibly signifies here subterranean prison-cells, so that אל־החניּות more exactly determines what בּית־הבּור is. This meaning of the word is, at any rate, more certain than that given by Eb. Scheid in Rosenmller, who renders חניות by flexa, curvata; then, supplying ligna, he thinks of the stocks to which the prisoners were fastened. - The king questioned him בּסּתר, "in secret," namely, through fear of his ministers and court-officers, who were prejudiced against the prophet, perhaps also in the hope of receiving in a private interview a message from God of more favourable import. To the question of the king, "Is there any word from Jahveh?" Jeremiah replies in the affirmative; but the word of God is this, "Thou shalt be given into the hand of the king of Babylon," just as Jeremiah had previously announced to him; cf. Jer 32:4; Jer 34:3. - Jeremiah took this opportunity of complaining about his imprisonment, saying, Jer 37:18, "In what have I sinned against thee, or against thy servants, or against this people, that ye have put me in prison? Jer 37:19. And where are your prophets, who prophesied to you, The king of Babylon shall not come against you, nor against this land?" Jeremiah appeals to his perfect innocence (Jer 37:18), and to the confirmation of his prediction by its event. The interview with the king took place when the Chaldeans, after driving the Egyptians out of the country, had recommenced the siege of Jerusalem, and, as is evident from Jer 37:21, were pressing the city very hard. The Kethib איו is to be read איּו, formed from איּה with the suffix וׁ; the idea of the suffix has gradually become obscured, so that it stands here before a noun in the plural. The Qeri requires איּה. The question, Where are your prophets? means, Let these prophets come forward and vindicate their lying prophecies. Not what these men had prophesied, but what Jeremiah had declared had come to pass; his imprisonment, accordingly, was unjust. - Besides thus appealing to his innocence, Jeremiah, Jer 37:20, entreats the king, "Let my supplication come before thee, and do not send me back into the house of Jonathan the scribe, that I may not die there." For 'תּפּל־נא ת see on Jer 36:7. The king granted this request. "He commanded, and they put Jeremiah into the court of the watch [of the royal palace, see on Jer 32:2], and gave him a loaf of bread daily out of the bakers' street, till all the bread in the city was consumed;" cf. Jer 52:6. The king did not give him his liberty, because Jeremiah held to his views, that were so distasteful to the king (see on Jer 32:3). "So Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard."

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
The dungeon - The Hebrew words signify some pit, or deep hole, where were some cells or apartments, in which they were wont to keep those whom they judged great malefactors.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
Entered into the dungeon, and into the cabins - The dungeon was probably a deep pit; and the cabins or cells, niches in the sides, where different malefactors were confined. See Blayney.

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³ For Zedekiah [06667] king [04428] of Judah [03063] had shut him up [03607], saying [0559], Wherefore dost thou prophesy [05012], and say [0559], Thus saith [0559] the LORD [03068], Behold, I will give [05414] this city [05892] into the hand [03027] of the king [04428] of Babylon [0894], and he shall take [03920] it;

⁶ And in the fourth [07243] month [02320], in the ninth [08672] day of the month [02320], the famine [07458] was sore [02388] in the city [05892], so that there was no bread [03899] for the people [05971] of the land [0776].

² For then the king [04428] of Babylon's [0894] army [02428] besieged [06696] Jerusalem [03389]: and Jeremiah [03414] the prophet [05030] was shut up [03607] in the court [02691] of the prison [04307], which was in the king [04428] of Judah's [03063] house [01004].

⁷ It may be they will present [05307] their supplication [08467] before [06440] the LORD [03068], and will return [07725] every one [0376] from his evil [07451] way [01870]: for great [01419] is the anger [0639] and the fury [02534] that the LORD [03068] hath pronounced [01696] against this people [05971].

²⁰ Therefore hear [08085] now, I pray thee, O my lord [0113] the king [04428]: let my supplication [08467], I pray thee, be accepted [05307] before [06440] thee; that thou cause me not to return [07725] to the house [01004] of Jonathan [03083] the scribe [05608], lest I die [04191] there.

²¹ Then Zedekiah [06667] the king [04428] commanded [06680] that they should commit [06485] Jeremiah [03414] into the court [02691] of the prison [04307], and that they should give [05414] him daily [03117] a piece [03603] of bread [03899] out of the bakers [0644] ' street [02351], until all the bread [03899] in the city [05892] were spent [08552]. Thus Jeremiah [03414] remained [03427] in the court [02691] of the prison [04307].

¹⁸ Moreover Jeremiah [03414] said [0559] unto king [04428] Zedekiah [06667], What have I offended [02398] against thee, or against thy servants [05650], or against this people [05971], that ye have put [05414] me in prison [01004] [03608]?

¹⁹ Where are now [0346] your prophets [05030] which prophesied [05012] unto you, saying [0559], The king [04428] of Babylon [0894] shall not come [0935] against you, nor against this land [0776]?

³ And thou shalt not escape out [04422] of his hand [03027], but shalt surely [08610] be taken [08610], and delivered [05414] into his hand [03027]; and thine eyes [05869] shall behold [07200] the eyes [05869] of the king [04428] of Babylon [0894], and he shall speak [01696] with thee mouth [06310] to mouth [06310], and thou shalt go [0935] to Babylon [0894].

⁴ And Zedekiah [06667] king [04428] of Judah [03063] shall not escape [04422] out of the hand [03027] of the Chaldeans [03778], but shall surely [05414] be delivered [05414] into the hand [03027] of the king [04428] of Babylon [0894], and shall speak [01696] with him mouth [06310] to mouth [06310], and his eyes [05869] shall behold [07200] his eyes [05869];

²⁹ And it came to pass, that at midnight [02677] [03915] the LORD [03068] smote [05221] all the firstborn [01060] in the land [0776] of Egypt [04714], from the firstborn [01060] of Pharaoh [06547] that sat [03427] on his throne [03678] unto the firstborn [01060] of the captive [07628] that was in the dungeon [01004] [0953]; and all the firstborn [01060] of cattle [0929].

¹⁶ When Jeremiah [03414] was entered [0935] into the dungeon [01004] [0953], and into the cabins [02588], and Jeremiah [03414] had remained [03427] there many [07227] days [03117];

¹² At that time [06256] Berodachbaladan [01255], the son [01121] of Baladan [01081], king [04428] of Babylon [0894], sent [07971] letters [05612] and a present [04503] unto Hezekiah [02396]: for he had heard [08085] that Hezekiah [02396] had been sick [02470].

¹ At that time [06256] Merodachbaladan [04757], the son [01121] of Baladan [01081], king [04428] of Babylon [0894], sent [07971] letters [05612] and a present [04503] to Hezekiah [02396]: for he had heard [08085] that he had been sick [02470], and was recovered [02388].

²¹ And [03588] the LORD [03068] visited [06485] Hannah [02584], so that she conceived [02029], and bare [03205] three [07969] sons [01121] and two [08147] daughters [01323]. And the child [05288] Samuel [08050] grew [01431] before [05973] the LORD [03068].

¹⁶ When Jeremiah [03414] was entered [0935] into the dungeon [01004] [0953], and into the cabins [02588], and Jeremiah [03414] had remained [03427] there many [07227] days [03117];