A foreign man rescues Jeremiah from the hole

⁷ There was an officer who served the king in his palace. His name was Ebed-Melech. He came from the country of Ethiopia. He heard the news that some officers had put Jeremiah into the deep hole in the palace yard. At that time the king was sitting as judge at the Benjamin Gate of the city. ⁸ So Ebed-Melech quickly left the palace. He went to speak to the king. He said to him, ⁹ ‘My master, the king, those men have done very wicked things to the prophet Jeremiah. They have put him in a deep hole. He will soon die there because there is no food in the city.’

¹⁰ Then the king gave this command to Ebed-Melech. He said, ‘Take 30 men with you from here. Go and lift Jeremiah out of the deep hole before he dies.’

¹¹ So Ebed-Melech took the men with him. He went to a room in the palace where they stored valuable things. He took some old clothes and pieces of cloth from there. He tied them to the end of some ropes. Then he let them drop down into the deep hole where Jeremiah was. ¹² He said to Jeremiah, ‘Put these old cloths and clothes under your arms. Then tie the ropes over them so that they do not hurt you.’ Jeremiah did as Ebed-Melech told him.

¹⁶ The Lord said, ‘Tell the Ethiopian man, Ebed-Melech, this: The Lord Almighty, Israel's God, says, “I will punish this city as I promised to do. I will send terrible trouble instead of help. You will see this when it happens.