Jeremiah 38:4-28

4Then the 1officials said to the king, “Now let this man be put to death, inasmuch as he is 23discouraging the men of war who are left in this city and 4all the people, by speaking such words to them; for this man 5is not seeking the well-being of this people but rather their harm.” 5So King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your 6hands; for the king 7can do nothing against you.” 6Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the 8cistern 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 9mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud. 7But 10Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, 11a 12eunuch, while he was in the king’s palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. Now the king was sitting in the 13Gate 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 14will die right where he is because of the famine, for there is 15no more bread in the city.” 10Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take thirty men from here 16under your authority and bring up Jeremiah the prophet from the cistern before he dies.” 11So Ebed-melech took the men under his 17authority 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 18court of the guardhouse.

14Then King Zedekiah 19sent and 20had 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 21ask you something; do not hide anything from me.” 15Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “22If 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 23secret saying, “As the Lord lives, who made this 2425life for us, surely I will not put you to death nor will I give you over to the hand of 26these men who are seeking your 27life.”

17Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord 28God of hosts, the 29God of Israel, ‘If you will indeed 30go out to the officers of the king of Babylon, then 31you will live, this city will not be burned with fire, and you and your household will 32survive. 18But if you will 33not go out to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city 34will be given over to the hand of the Chaldeans; and they will burn it with fire, and 35you yourself will not escape from their hand.’” 19Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I 36dread the Jews who have 3738gone over to the Chaldeans, for they may give me over into their hand and they will 39abuse me.” 20But Jeremiah said, “They will not give you over. Please 4041obey the Lord in what I am saying to you, that it may go 42well with you and 4344you 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 45women who have been left in the palace of the king of Judah are going to be brought out to the 46officers of the king of Babylon; and those women will say, “47Your 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 48sons to the Chaldeans, and 49you yourself will not escape from their hand, but will be seized by the hand of the king of Babylon, and 50this 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 51officials 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 52presenting 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 53conversation had not been overheard. 28So Jeremiah 54stayed in the court of the guardhouse until the day that Jerusalem was captured.