Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit
Jeremiah into the court of the prison
He did not think fit to discharge him entirely, lest it should give offence to the princes, who had committed him; but he ordered him to be put in a court belonging to the prison, where he might breathe in a freer air, and have liberty of walking to and fro, where his friends might be admitted to come and see him: and that they should give him daily a piece of bread out of the bakers'
street;
it seems there was a street in Jerusalem so called, where the bakers lived; and perhaps the king's bakers; who had orders to deliver to the prophet every day a piece or loaf of bread, as much as was sufficient for a man; or, however, as much as the scarcity of provisions in a siege would allow. Kimchi makes mention of a Midrash, which interprets this of bread made of bran, which was sold without the palace; as if it was coarser bread than what was eaten at court: until all the bread in the city was spent;
that is, as long as there was any. These were the king's orders: thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison:
until the city was taken; unless a small time that he was in the dungeon of Malchiah, out of which he was taken again, and restored to the court of the prison, and there continued; see ( Jeremiah 38:6 Jeremiah 38:13 Jeremiah 38:28 ) .