⁸ Ebed-melech went from the king’s palace and spoke to the king: ⁹ “My lord the king, these men have been evil in all they have done to the prophet Jeremiah. They have dropped him into the cistern where he will die from hunger, because there is no more bread in the city.”^(A)

¹⁰ So the king commanded Ebed-melech, the Cushite, “Take from here thirty men under your authority^[a] and pull the prophet Jeremiah up from the cistern before he dies.”