CHAPTER 38
1And Shephatiah son of Mattan and Gedaliah son of Pashshur and Jucal son of Shelemiah and Pashhur son of Malkiah heard the words that Jeremiah was speaking to the people, saying, 2“Thus said the LORD: He who dwells in this city shall die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence, and he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live, and his life shall be booty but he shall live. 3Thus said the LORD: This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylonia’s force and he shall capture it.” 4And the nobles said to the king: “Let this man be put to death, for he is surely weakening the hands of the men of war remaining in this city and the hands of the people to speak to them words of this sort, for this man does not seek the welfare of this people but rather harm.” 5And King Zedekiah said, “Here he is in your hand, for the king can do nothing with you.” 6And they took Jeremiah and flung him into the pit of Malchiah the king’s son, which is in the court of the guard, and they lowered Jeremiah with ropes. And in the pit there was no water, only muck, and Jeremiah sank into the muck. 7And Ebed-Melech the Cushite, a eunuch, heard, and he was in the king’s house, that they had put Jeremiah in the pit, and the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate. 8And Ebed-Melech came out from the king’s house and spoke to the king, saying, 9“My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, in that they have flung him into the pit, and he could die on the spot of hunger, for there is no more bread in the city.” 10And the king charged Ebed-Melech the Cushite, saying, “Take in your charge from here thirty men and raise up Jeremiah the prophet from the pit before he dies.” 11And Ebed-Melech took the men in his charge and came into the king’s house beneath the treasury, and he took from there worn rags and worn clothes and sent them to Jeremiah in the pit with ropes. 12And Ebed-Melech the Cushite said to Jeremiah, “Pray, put the worn rags and clothes under your armpits beneath the ropes,” and so did Jeremiah do. 13And they pulled Jeremiah up with the ropes and brought him up out of the pit, and Jeremiah stayed in the court of the guard. 14And King Zedekiah sent and took Jeremiah the prophet to him by the third entrance which is in the house of the LORD, and the king said to Jeremiah, “I am asking something of you. Do not hide the thing from me.” 15And Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Should I tell you, would you not surely put me to death? And should I counsel you, you would not heed me.” 16And King Zedekiah secretly swore to Jeremiah, “As the LORD lives, Who made this life of ours, I will not put you to death and I will not give you into the hand of the men who seek your life.” 17And Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus said the LORD God of Armies, God of Israel: If you indeed go out to the commanders of the king of Babylonia, you shall live and this city shall not be burned, and you and your household shall live. 18And if you do not go out to the commanders of the king of Babylonia, the city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it in fire, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand.” 19And King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am worried about the Judahites who have gone over to the Chaldeans, lest they give me into their hands and they abuse me.” 20And Jeremiah said, “They will not give you over. Heed, pray, the voice of the LORD that I speak to you, that it be well with you, and you live. 21But should you refuse to go out, this is the word that the LORD has shown me. 22Look, all the women who have remained in the house of the king of Judah are to be brought out to the commanders of the king of Babylonia, and, look, they say:
‘They deceived you and prevailed over you,
the men who were your intimates.
They have fallen back.’
23And all your wives and your children are to be brought out to the Chaldeans, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand, for in the hand of the king of Babylonia you shall be caught, and this city shall be burned in fire.” 24And Zedekiah said to Jeremiah “Let no man know these things, and you shall not die. 25And should the nobles hear that I have spoken with you and come to you and say to you, ‘Tell us, pray, what you spoke to the king. Do not conceal it from us, and we will not put you to death, what the king spoke to you.’ 26You shall say to them, ‘I was laying my supplication before the king not to send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.’” 27And all the nobles came to Jeremiah and asked him, and he told them according to these words that the king had charged him, and they ceased speaking with him, for the thing had not been heard. 28And Jeremiah stayed in the court of the guard till the day Jerusalem was captured. And it happened, when the city was captured. . . .