For then the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem: and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the king of Judah's house.
Jeremiah ... was shut up in the court of the prison - i:e., in the open space occupied by the guard, whence he was not allowed to depart, but where any of his friends might visit him (Jeremiah 32:12; Jeremiah 38:13; Jeremiah 38:28). Marvellous obstinacy, that, at the time when they were experiencing the truth of Jeremiah's words in the pressure of the siege, they should still keep the prophet in confinement (Calvin). The circumstances narrated (Jeremiah 32:3-5) occurred at the beginning of the siege, when Jeremiah foretold the capture of the city (Jeremiah 32:1; Jeremiah 34:1-7; Jeremiah 39:1). He was at that time put into free custody in the court of the prison. At the raising of the siege by Pharaoh-hophra, Jeremiah was on the point of repairing to Benjamin, when he was cast into "the dungeon," but obtained leave to be removed again to the court of the prison (Jeremiah 37:12-21). When there he urged the Jews, on the second advance of the Chaldeans to the siege, to save themselves by submission to Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 38:2-3); in consequence of this the king, at the instigation of the princes, had him cast into a miry dungeon (Jeremiah 38:4-6); again he was removed to the prison court at the intercession of Ebed-melech, a courtier (Jeremiah 32:7-13), where he remained until the capture of the city (Jeremiah 32:28), when he was liberated, (Jeremiah 39:11, etc.; Jeremiah 40:1, etc.)