And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now unto the LORD our God for us.
Zedekiah ... sent to ... Jeremiah, saying, Pray now unto the Lord our God for us. Zedekiah's reason for applying to Jeremiah to intercede with God was, he feared lest, in the event of the Chaldeans overcoming Pharaoh-hophra, they should return to besiege Jerusalem. See note in beginning of Jeremiah 21:1-14; that chapter chronologically comes in between Jeremiah 37:1-21 and Jeremiah 38:1-28. The message of the king to Jeremiah here in Jeremiah 37:1-21 is somewhat earlier than that in Jeremiah 21:1-14;-here it is while the issue between the Chaldeans and Pharaoh was undecided; there it is when, after the repulse of Pharaoh, the Chaldeans were again advancing against Jerusalem: hence, while Zephaniah is named in both embassies, Jehucal accompanies him here, Pashur there. But as Pashur and Jehucal are both mentioned in Jeremiah 38:1-2 as hearing Jeremiah's reply, which is identical with that in Jeremiah 21:9, it is probable the two messages followed one another at a short interval; that in this Jeremiah 37:3, and the answer (Jeremiah 37:7-10), being the earlier of the two.
Zephaniah - an abettor of rebellion against God (Jeremiah 29:25), though less virulent than many (Jeremiah 29:29), punished accordingly (Jeremiah 52:24-27) by a violent death at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.