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So the four of them went to the king and said, “You should put Jeremiah to death, because he is making the soldiers and everyone else lose hope. He isn't trying to help our people; he's trying to harm them.”

Zedekiah replied, “Do what you want with him. I can't stop you.”

Then they took me back to the courtyard of the palace guards and let me down with ropes into the well that belonged to Malchiah, the king's son. There was no water in the well, but I sank down in the mud.

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Then the officials(A) said to the king, “This man should be put to death.(B) He is discouraging(C) the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin.”

“He is in your hands,”(D) King Zedekiah answered. “The king can do nothing(E) to oppose you.”

So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard.(F) They lowered Jeremiah by ropes(G) into the cistern; it had no water in it,(H) only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.(I)

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7-8 Ebedmelech from Ethiopia[a] was an official at the palace, and he heard what they had done to me. So he went to speak with King Zedekiah, who was holding court at Benjamin Gate. Ebedmelech said, “Your Majesty, Jeremiah is a prophet, and those men were wrong to throw him into a well. And when Jerusalem runs out of food, Jeremiah will starve to death down there.”

10 Zedekiah answered, “Take 30[b] of my soldiers and pull Jeremiah out before he dies.”

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Footnotes

  1. 38.7,8 Ethiopia: The Hebrew text has “Cush,” a region south of Egypt that included parts of the present countries of Ethiopia and Sudan.
  2. 38.10 30: Most Hebrew manuscripts; one Hebrew manuscript “three.”

Ebed-Melek went out of the palace and said to him, “My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have thrown him into a cistern,(A) where he will starve to death when there is no longer any bread(B) in the city.”

10 Then the king commanded Ebed-Melek the Cushite, “Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”

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