³ King Zedekiah, however, sent^(A) Jehukal^(B) son of Shelemiah with the priest Zephaniah^(C) son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah the prophet with this message: “Please pray^(D) to the Lord our God for us.”

⁴ Now Jeremiah was free to come and go among the people, for he had not yet been put in prison.^{(E) 5} Pharaoh’s army had marched out of Egypt,^(F) and when the Babylonians^[a] who were besieging Jerusalem heard the report about them, they withdrew^(G) from Jerusalem.^(H)