Jeremiah in the Dungeon

38 Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, ^(A)Jucal^[a] the son of Shelemiah, and ^(B)Pashhur the son of Malchiah ^(C)heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people, saying, ² “Thus says the Lord: ^(D)‘He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes over to the Chaldeans shall live; his life shall be as a prize to him, and he shall live.’ ³ Thus says the Lord: ^(E)‘This city shall surely be ^(F)given into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which shall take it.’ ”

⁴ Therefore the princes said to the king, “Please, ^(G)let this man be put to death, for thus he ^[b]weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man does not seek the ^[c]welfare of this people, but their harm.”

⁵ Then Zedekiah the king said, “Look, he is in your hand. For the king can do nothing against you.” ^6 (H)So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah ^[d]the king’s son, which was in the court of the prison, and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire. So Jeremiah sank in the mire.

^7 (I)Now Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, one of the ^[e]eunuchs, who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon. When the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin, ⁸ Ebed-Melech went out of 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, whom they have cast into the dungeon, and he is likely to die from hunger in the place where he is. For there is ^(J)no more bread in the city.” ¹⁰ Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take from here thirty men with you, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he dies.” ¹¹ So Ebed-Melech took the men with him and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took from there old clothes and old rags, and let them down by ropes into the dungeon to Jeremiah. ¹² Then Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Please put these old clothes and rags under your armpits, under the ropes.” And Jeremiah did so. ¹³ So they pulled Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the dungeon. And Jeremiah remained ^(K)in the court of the prison.

The Voyage to Rome Begins

27 And when ^(A)it was decided that we should sail to Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to one named Julius, a centurion of the Augustan Regiment. ² So, entering a ship of Adramyttium, we put to sea, meaning to sail along the coasts of Asia. ^(B)Aristarchus, a Macedonian of Thessalonica, was with us. ³ And the next day we landed at Sidon. And Julius ^(C)treated Paul kindly and gave him liberty to go to his friends and receive care. ⁴ When we had put to sea from there, we sailed under the shelter of Cyprus, because the winds were contrary. ⁵ And when we had sailed over the sea which is off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra, a city of Lycia. ⁶ There the centurion found ^(D)an Alexandrian ship sailing to Italy, and he put us on board.

⁷ When we had sailed slowly many days, and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, the wind not permitting us to proceed, we sailed under the shelter of ^(E)Crete off Salmone. ⁸ Passing it with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.

Paul’s Warning Ignored

⁹ Now when much time had been spent, and sailing was now dangerous ^(F)because ^[a]the Fast was already over, Paul advised them, ¹⁰ saying, “Men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also our lives.” ¹¹ Nevertheless the centurion was more persuaded by the helmsman and the owner of the ship than by the things spoken by Paul. ¹² And because the harbor was not suitable to winter in, the majority advised to set sail from there also, if by any means they could reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete opening toward the southwest and northwest, and winter there.

In the Tempest

¹³ When the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained their desire, putting out to sea, they sailed close by Crete. ¹⁴ But not long after, a tempestuous head wind arose, called ^[b]Euroclydon. ¹⁵ So when the ship was caught, and could not head into the wind, we let her ^[c]drive. ¹⁶ And running under the shelter of an island called ^[d]Clauda, we secured the skiff with difficulty. ¹⁷ When they had taken it on board, they used cables to undergird the ship; and fearing lest they should run aground on the ^[e]Syrtis Sands, they struck sail and so were driven. ¹⁸ And because we were exceedingly tempest-tossed, the next day they lightened the ship. ¹⁹ On the third day ^(G)we threw the ship’s tackle overboard with our own hands. ²⁰ Now when neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved was finally given up.

²¹ But after long abstinence from food, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me, and not have sailed from Crete and incurred this disaster and loss. ²² And now I urge you to take ^[f]heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. ^23 (H)For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and ^(I)whom I serve, ²⁴ saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ ²⁵ Therefore take heart, men, ^(J)for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me. ²⁶ However, ^(K)we must run aground on a certain island.”

²⁷ Now when the fourteenth night had come, as we were driven up and down in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors sensed that they were drawing near some land. ²⁸ And they took soundings and found it to be twenty fathoms; and when they had gone a little farther, they took soundings again and found it to be fifteen fathoms. ²⁹ Then, fearing lest we should run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern, and ^[g]prayed for day to come. ³⁰ And as the sailors were seeking to escape from the ship, when they had let down the skiff into the sea, under pretense of putting out anchors from the prow, ³¹ Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.” ³² Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the skiff and let it fall off.

³³ And as day was about to dawn, Paul implored them all to take food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day you have waited and continued without food, and eaten nothing. ³⁴ Therefore I urge you to take nourishment, for this is for your survival, ^(L)since not a hair will fall from the head of any of you.” ³⁵ And when he had said these things, he took bread and ^(M)gave thanks to God in the presence of them all; and when he had broken it he began to eat. ³⁶ Then they were all encouraged, and also took food themselves. ³⁷ And in all we were two hundred and seventy-six ^(N)persons on the ship. ³⁸ So when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship and threw out the wheat into the sea.

Shipwrecked on Malta

³⁹ When it was day, they did not recognize the land; but they observed a bay with a beach, onto which they planned to run the ship if possible. ⁴⁰ And they ^[h]let go the anchors and left them in the sea, meanwhile loosing the rudder ropes; and they hoisted the mainsail to the wind and made for shore. ⁴¹ But striking ^[i]a place where two seas met, ^(O)they ran the ship aground; and the prow stuck fast and remained immovable, but the stern was being broken up by the violence of the waves.

⁴² And the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim away and escape. ⁴³ But the centurion, wanting to save Paul, kept them from their purpose, and commanded that those who could swim should jump overboard first and get to land, ⁴⁴ and the rest, some on boards and some on parts of the ship. And so it was ^(P)that they all escaped safely to land.

¹⁷ And they took Absalom and cast him into a large pit in the woods, and ^(A)laid a very large heap of stones over him. Then all Israel ^(B)fled, everyone to his tent.

¹⁸ Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up a ^[a]pillar for himself, which is in ^(C)the King’s Valley. For he said, ^(D)“I have no son to keep my name in remembrance.” He called the pillar after his own name. And to this day it is called Absalom’s Monument.

David Hears of Absalom’s Death

¹⁹ Then ^(E)Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, “Let me run now and take the news to the king, how the Lord has ^[b]avenged him of his enemies.”

²⁰ And Joab said to him, “You shall not take the news this day, for you shall take the news another day. But today you shall take no news, because the king’s son is dead.” ²¹ Then Joab said to the Cushite, “Go, tell the king what you have seen.” So the Cushite bowed himself to Joab and ran.

²² And Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said again to Joab, “But ^[c]whatever happens, please let me also run after the Cushite.”

So Joab said, “Why will you run, my son, since you have no news ready?”

²³ “But whatever happens,” he said, “let me run.”

So he said to him, “Run.” Then Ahimaaz ran by way of the plain, and outran the Cushite.

²⁴ Now David was sitting between the ^(F)two gates. And the watchman went up to the roof over the gate, to the wall, lifted his eyes and looked, and there was a man, running alone. ²⁵ Then the watchman cried out and told the king. And the king said, “If he is alone, there is news in his mouth.” And he came rapidly and drew near.

²⁶ Then the watchman saw another man running, and the watchman called to the gatekeeper and said, “There is another man, running alone!”

And the king said, “He also brings news.”

²⁷ So the watchman said, ^[d]“I think the running of the first is like the running of Ahimaaz the son of Zadok.”

And the king said, “He is a good man, and comes with ^(G)good news.”

²⁸ So Ahimaaz called out and said to the king, ^[e]“All is well!” Then he bowed down with his face to the earth before the king, and said, ^(H)“Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delivered up the men who raised their hand against my lord the king!”

²⁹ The king said, “Is the young man Absalom safe?”

Ahimaaz answered, “When Joab sent the king’s servant and me your servant, I saw a great tumult, but I did not know what it was about.”

³⁰ And the king said, “Turn aside and stand here.” So he turned aside and stood still.

³¹ Just then the Cushite came, and the Cushite said, “There is good news, my lord the king! For the Lord has avenged you this day of all those who rose against you.”

³² And the king said to the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom safe?”

So the Cushite answered, “May the enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise against you to do harm, be like that young man!”

David’s Mourning for Absalom

³³ Then the king was deeply moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept. And as he went, he said thus: ^(I)“O my son Absalom—my son, my son Absalom—if only I had died in your place! O Absalom my son, ^(J)my son!”