Jeremiah 32:2

Besieged Jerusalem. Zedekiah’s policy of treachery and intrigue caused Nebuchadnezzar to besiege Jerusalem. It was at this time that the king of Judah, provoked to anger by Jeremiah’s persistent predictions of defeat (see vs. 3-5; chs. 34:2, 3; 38:20-23), had the prophet “shut up in the court of the prison” (see Neh. 3:25). Actually, Nebuchadnezzar began to besiege Jerusalem in the 9th year of Zedekiah’s reign (see on Jer. 39:1), but he had been forced temporarily to abandon the siege because of the approach of an Egyptian army (see ch. 37:5, 11). From the time of the beginning of the siege (see Jer. 39:1), until the temporary lifting of the siege by the Babylonians, Jeremiah had been at liberty in the city (see on ch. 37:4). Following the prophet’s attempt to return to Anathoth, and the misrepresentation of his motives by his enemies (see ch. 37:11-14), Jeremiah was imprisoned “in the house of Jonathan the scribe” (ch. 37:15). At the prisoner’s request the king had taken Jeremiah from there to “the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah’s house,” perhaps in order that the prophet would be readily available for consultation as to the probable result of the siege (see ch. 37:20, 21).