²⁵ If the officials hear that I talked with you, and they come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us or we will kill you,’

²⁷ All the officials did come to Jeremiah and question him, and he told them everything the king had ordered him to say. So they said no more to him, for no one had heard his conversation with the king.

⁴ 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.”

⁵ “He is in your hands,”^(D) King Zedekiah answered. “The king can do nothing^(E) to oppose you.”

⁶ 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)