Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 37:3

"And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Pray now unto Jehovah our God for us." — Jeremiah 37:3 (ASV)

And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal ... — The time and, probably, the occasion of the mission is given in Jeremiah 37:5. The Chaldeans had raised the siege of Jerusalem on hearing of the approach of the Egyptian army under Pharaoh-Hophra, the Apries of Herodotus (Ezekiel 17:15; Ezekiel 29:1–16; Ezekiel 30-32), and the king seems to have thought that an opportunity presented itself for asserting his independence and wished to gain the sanction and the prayers of the prophet for this policy.

Of the two officers who are named here, Jehucal appears as accusing the prophets in Jeremiah 38:1, and Zephaniah in Jeremiah 21:1 and Jeremiah 29:25. They clearly belonged to the anti-Chaldean party and were therefore, for the most part, openly hostile to the prophet. Their appeal to him was either simply an official act in obedience to the king’s commands, or sprang from the hope, as before in Jeremiah 21:1, that they might, by a show of religious zeal for Jehovah, win him over to their cause. The stress they laid on his praying to the Lord our God indicates that the latter alternative is probable.