Jeremiah 38

New American Standard Bible 1995

Jeremiah Thrown into the Cistern

38 Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jucal the ^(A)son of Shelemiah, and ^(B)Pashhur the son of Malchijah heard the words that Jeremiah was speaking to all the people, saying, ² “Thus says the Lord, ‘He who ^(C)stays in this city will die by the ^(D)sword and by famine and by pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans will live and have his own ^(E)life as booty and stay alive.’ ³ Thus says the Lord, ‘This city will certainly be ^(F)given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and he will capture it.’” ⁴ Then the ^(G)officials said to the king, “Now let this man be put to death, inasmuch as he is ^[a](H)discouraging the men of war who are left in this city and ^[b]all the people, by speaking such words to them; for this man ^(I)is not seeking the well-being of this people but rather their harm.” ⁵ So King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your ^[c]hands; for the king ^(J)can do nothing against you.” ⁶ Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the ^(K)cistern 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 ^(L)mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud. ⁷ But ^(M)Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, ^[d]a ^(N)eunuch, while he was in the king’s palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. Now the king was sitting in the ^(O)Gate of Benjamin; ⁸ and 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 ^[e]will die right where he is because of the famine, for there is ^(P)no more bread in the city.” ¹⁰ Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take thirty men from here ^[f]under your authority and bring up Jeremiah the prophet from the cistern before he dies.” ¹¹ So Ebed-melech took the men under his ^[g]authority 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. ¹² Then 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. ¹³ So they pulled Jeremiah up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern, and Jeremiah stayed in the ^(Q)court of the guardhouse.

¹⁴ Then King Zedekiah ^(R)sent and ^[h]had 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 ^(S)ask you something; do not hide anything from me.” ¹⁵ Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “^(T)If I tell you, will you not certainly put me to death? Besides, if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.” ¹⁶ But King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in ^(U)secret saying, “As the Lord lives, who made this ^[i](V)life for us, surely I will not put you to death nor will I give you over to the hand of ^(W)these men who are seeking your ^[j]life.”

Interview with Zedekiah

¹⁷ Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord ^(X)God of hosts, the ^(Y)God of Israel, ‘If you will indeed ^(Z)go out to the officers of the king of Babylon, then ^[k]you will live, this city will not be burned with fire, and you and your household will ^[l]survive. ¹⁸ But if you will ^(AA)not go out to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city ^(AB)will be given over to the hand of the Chaldeans; and they will burn it with fire, and ^(AC)you yourself will not escape from their hand.’” ¹⁹ Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I ^(AD)dread the Jews who have ^[m](AE)gone over to the Chaldeans, for they may give me over into their hand and they will ^(AF)abuse me.” ²⁰ But Jeremiah said, “They will not give you over. Please ^[n](AG)obey the Lord in what I am saying to you, that it may go ^(AH)well with you and ^[o](AI)you may live. ²¹ But if you keep refusing to go out, this is the word which the Lord has shown me: ²² ‘Then behold, all of the ^(AJ)women who have been left in the palace of the king of Judah are going to be brought out to the ^[p]officers of the king of Babylon; and those women will say,

²³ They will also bring out all your wives and your ^(AK)sons to the Chaldeans, and ^(AL)you yourself will not escape from their hand, but will be seized by the hand of the king of Babylon, and ^(AM)this city will be burned with fire.’”

²⁴ Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no man know about these words and you will not die. ²⁵ But if the ^(AN)officials 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,’ ²⁶ then you are to say to them, ‘I was ^(AO)presenting my petition before the king, not to make me return to the house of Jonathan to die there.’” ²⁷ Then 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 ^[r]conversation had not been overheard. ²⁸ So Jeremiah ^(AP)stayed in the court of the guardhouse until the day that Jerusalem was captured.