37:1,2
Zedekiah is now king, but he is a mere puppet of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. However, neither “he nor his attendants nor the people of the land” paid any attention to the words of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah. The heart of man can be incredibly stubborn, refusing to believe the word of God despite all the evidence. Jeremiah had warned of the Babylonian conquest, and now that Babylon was effectively in charge of Jerusalem, and the words of the false prophets had proved to be a load of nonsense, they still refused to pay attention to the words of Jeremiah, which were proving to be right. Note also that all were held responsible, both the king and the people.
37:3-5
Despite ignoring the word of God, the king had the gall to send people to Jeremiah to ask him to pray to the Lord for the land. People will think that despite their persistence in disobeying God, that when they were in trouble God would help them regardless. At this point Jeremiah had not been imprisoned, and there were military maneuvers. The Egyptian army had moved out, in response to secret diplomatic moves by Zedekiah. This would bring temporary relief for Jerusalem, with the siege being lifted. But this would only be for a time.
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