Jeremiah is seated in the royal palace's Courtyard of the Guard in Judah. Unlike the witnesses and the elders who are seated there, Jeremiah is in chains. He is in chains because he has prophesied desolation over Jerusalem and defeat over her king, Zedekiah (Jer. 32:3-5). The act of prophesying today is a mixture of fortune-telling and wishful thinking. It never dares to be direct or negative. Jeremiah was none of this and so he suffers the consequences. But GOD has a Word to uplift him in his captivity.