⁹ “My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have thrown him into a cistern,^(A) where he will starve to death when there is no longer any bread^(B) in the city.”

²¹ King Zedekiah then gave orders for Jeremiah to be placed in the courtyard of the guard and given a loaf of bread from the street of the bakers each day until all the bread^(A) in the city was gone.^(B) So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.^(C)

Jeremiah Thrown Into a Cistern

38 Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur^(D), Jehukal^[a](E) son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah was telling all the people when he said, ² “This is what the Lord says: ‘Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague,^(F) but whoever goes over to the Babylonians^[b] will live. They will escape with their lives; they will live.’^{(G) 3} And this is what the Lord says: ‘This city will certainly be given into the hands of the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.’”^(H)

⁴ Then the officials^(I) said to the king, “This man should be put to death.^(J) He is discouraging^(K) 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,”^(L) King Zedekiah answered. “The king can do nothing^(M) 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.^(N) They lowered Jeremiah by ropes^(O) into the cistern; it had no water in it,^(P) only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.^(Q)

⁶ By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat.^(A)

⁴ For I and my people have been sold to be destroyed, killed and annihilated.^(A) If we had merely been sold as male and female slaves, I would have kept quiet, because no such distress would justify disturbing the king.^[a]”

⁵ King Xerxes asked Queen Esther, “Who is he? Where is he—the man who has dared to do such a thing?”

⁶ Esther said, “An adversary and enemy! This vile Haman!”

Then Haman was terrified before the king and queen.