Jeremiah 37:1
And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. And king Zedekiah the son of Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah.
The verse opens the account in the reign of Zedekiah the son of Josiah, who succeeded Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, also called Jehoiachin, as king of Judah in Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed Coniah and made Zedekiah king in his place in the land of Judah. Those who read the verse the other way understand it to say that Nebuchadnezzar had made Coniah king.
The chapter belongs to the book's section concerning Zedekiah's reign and to the historical account of the two years before Jerusalem fell, covering chapters 32-45, late in the chronological story of Jeremiah's experiences and in the later period of his work in Judah. From Jeremiah 20 onward the chapters are not in chronological order, but the data given makes the true order clear. Chapter 37 belongs after chapter 34 and before chapters 32, 33 and 38, and this non-chronological ordering does not change their teaching.
After serving Babylon for eight years, Zedekiah rebelled. In the ninth year of his reign Nebuchadnezzar besieged and captured Jerusalem, destroyed the temple and the city's leading houses, and carried Zedekiah and many people to Babylon. In this setting Zedekiah sought help from Egypt and asked Jeremiah to pray, but God warned that the Egyptians would return home and the Chaldeans would come back, capture Jerusalem and burn it. Even if Judah defeated the Chaldean army, the city would still be burned, showing that Egyptian aid could not provide escape and that refusal to turn to God would not avert the fall.
In Jeremiah's dealings with him, Zedekiah relented toward Jeremiah and heard God's offer to spare Jerusalem if he surrendered to Babylon, but refused because he feared the people. The chapter belongs to the record of the sad things in Judah that caused the weeping prophet to weep — the false prophets, the utter repudiation of the law of God and the principles of righteousness, and the persecutions of the prophet himself — left to show the awful enormity of sin and its sure consequences. It stands among the passages showing Judah's rejection of the Lord's reproof, counsel, and warning.