Day 249: Prayer of Judith (2026)

Fr. Mike Schmitz (0:04)

Hi, my name is Fr. Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to The Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using The Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 249 We're reading from Jeremiah 37 and 38 Also, Judith 8 and 9, we finally get introduced to Judith today, as well as Proverbs 17 verses 5 through 8 As always, the Bible translation I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using The Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com/bible in a Year. You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe. Let's get after it because it is day 249 We're reading Jeremiah 37 and 38, introduced to Judith herself in Judith 8 and 9, and Proverbs 17, verses 5 through 8

The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah, chapter 37, Zedekiah asks Jeremiah's prayers.

Zedekiah the son of Josiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah, reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim. But neither he nor his servants, nor the people of the land, listened to the words of the Lord, which he spoke through Jeremiah the prophet. King Zedekiah sent Jehukal the son of Shalemiah, and Zephaniah the priest, the son of Maasaiah to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Pray for us, to the Lord our God. Now Jeremiah was still going in and out among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison. The army of Pharaoh had come out of Egypt, and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news of them, they withdrew from Jerusalem. Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet. Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Thus shall you say to the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me, Behold, Pharaoh's army, which came to help you, is about to return to Egypt, to its own land. And the Chaldeans shall come back, and fight against this city, they shall take it and burn it with fire. Thus says the Lord, Do not deceive yourselves, saying, The Chaldeans will surely stay away from us, for they will not stay away. For even if you should defeat the whole army of Chaldeans, who are fighting against you, and there remained of them only wounded men, every man in his tent they would rise up and burn this city with fire.

Jeremiah is imprisoned. Now, when the Chaldean army had withdrawn from Jerusalem at the approach of Pharaoh's army, Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to receive his portion there among the people. When he was at the Benjamin gate, a sentry there named Erezah, the son of Shalimiah, son of Hananiah, seized Jeremiah the prophet saying, You are deserting to the Chaldeans. Jeremiah said, It is false, I am not deserting to the Chaldeans. But Erezah would not listen to him and seized Jeremiah and brought him to the princes. And the princes were enraged at Jeremiah, and they beat him and imprisoned him in the house of Jonathan, the secretary, for it had been made a prison. When Jeremiah had come to the dungeon cells and remained there many days, King Zedekiah sent for him and received him. The king questioned him secretly in his house and said, Is there any word from the Lord? Jeremiah said, There is. Then he said, You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon. Jeremiah also said to King Zedekiah, What wrong have I done to you or your servants or this people that you have put me in prison? Where are your prophets who prophesied to you saying, The king of Babylon will not come against you and against this land. Now here I beg you, O my Lord the king, let my humble plea come before you and do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary lest I die there.

So King Zedekiah gave orders, and they committed Jeremiah to the court of the guard, and a loaf of bread was given him daily from the baker's street until all the bread of the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

Chapter 38, Jeremiah in the cistern. Now, Shephatiah the son of Matan, Gedaliah the son of Paschur, Jucal the son of Shelamiah, and Paschur, the son of Malchaia, heard the words that Jeremiah was saying to all the people. Thus says the Lord, He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine and by pestilence. But he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live. He shall have his life as a prize of war and live. Thus says the Lord, This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the King of Babylon and be taken. Then the princes said to the King, Let this man be put to death, for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city and the hands of all the people by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm. King Zedekiah said, Behold, he is in your hands, for the King can do nothing against you. So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchaia, the King's son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only myre, and Jeremiah sank in the myre.