Jeremiah 38

Jeremiah Thrown into the Cistern

1Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jucal the 1son of Shelemiah, and 2Pashhur the son of Malchijah heard the words that Jeremiah was speaking to all the people, saying, 2“Thus says the Lord, ‘He who 3stays in this city will die by the 4sword and by famine and by pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans will live and have his own 5life as booty and stay alive.’ 3Thus says the Lord, ‘This city will certainly be 6given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and he will capture it.’” 4Then the 7officials said to the king, “Now let this man be put to death, inasmuch as he is 89discouraging the men of war who are left in this city and 10all the people, by speaking such words to them; for this man 11is not seeking the well-being of this people but rather their harm.” 5So King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your 12hands; for the king 13can do nothing against you.” 6Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the 14cistern of Malchijah the king’s son, which was in the court of the guardhouse; and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. Now in the cistern there was no water but only 15mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud. 7But 16Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, 17a 18eunuch, while he was in the king’s palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. Now the king was sitting in the 19Gate of Benjamin; 8and Ebed-melech went out from the king’s palace and spoke to the king, saying, 9“My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet whom they have cast into the cistern; and he 20will die right where he is because of the famine, for there is 21no more bread in the city.” 10Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take thirty men from here 22under your authority and bring up Jeremiah the prophet from the cistern before he dies.” 11So Ebed-melech took the men under his 23authority and went into the king’s palace to a place beneath the storeroom and took from there worn-out clothes and worn-out rags and let them down by ropes into the cistern to Jeremiah. 12Then Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Now put these worn-out clothes and rags under your armpits under the ropes”; and Jeremiah did so. 13So they pulled Jeremiah up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern, and Jeremiah stayed in the 24court of the guardhouse.

14Then King Zedekiah 25sent and 26had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance that is in the house of the Lord; and the king said to Jeremiah, “I am going to 27ask you something; do not hide anything from me.” 15Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “28If I tell you, will you not certainly put me to death? Besides, if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.” 16But King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in 29secret saying, “As the Lord lives, who made this 3031life for us, surely I will not put you to death nor will I give you over to the hand of 32these men who are seeking your 33life.”

Interview with Zedekiah

17Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord 34God of hosts, the 35God of Israel, ‘If you will indeed 36go out to the officers of the king of Babylon, then 37you will live, this city will not be burned with fire, and you and your household will 38survive. 18But if you will 39not go out to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city 40will be given over to the hand of the Chaldeans; and they will burn it with fire, and 41you yourself will not escape from their hand.’” 19Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I 42dread the Jews who have 4344gone over to the Chaldeans, for they may give me over into their hand and they will 45abuse me.” 20But Jeremiah said, “They will not give you over. Please 4647obey the Lord in what I am saying to you, that it may go 48well with you and 4950you may live. 21But if you keep refusing to go out, this is the word which the Lord has shown me: 22‘Then behold, all of the 51women who have been left in the palace of the king of Judah are going to be brought out to the 52officers of the king of Babylon; and those women will say, “53Your close friends Have misled and overpowered you; While your feet were sunk in the mire, They turned back.” 23They will also bring out all your wives and your 54sons to the Chaldeans, and 55you yourself will not escape from their hand, but will be seized by the hand of the king of Babylon, and 56this city will be burned with fire.’”

24Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no man know about these words and you will not die. 25But if the 57officials hear that I have talked with you and come to you and say to you, ‘Tell us now what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us and we will not put you to death,’ 26then you are to say to them, ‘I was 58presenting my petition before the king, not to make me return to the house of Jonathan to die there.’” 27Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him. So he reported to them in accordance with all these words which the king had commanded; and they ceased speaking with him, since the 59conversation had not been overheard. 28So Jeremiah 60stayed in the court of the guardhouse until the day that Jerusalem was captured.