Jeremiah 38:1-13

International Standard Version

Jeremiah is Arrested and Imprisoned

38 Mattan’s son Shephatiah, Pashhur’s son Gedaliah, Shelemiah’s son Jucal, and Malchijah’s son Pashhur heard the words that Jeremiah was speaking to all the people: ² “This is what the Lord says: ‘Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, by famine, and by the plague, but the one who goes over to the Chaldeans will live. His life will be spared,^[a] and he will live.’ ³ This is what the Lord says: ‘This city will surely be given to the army of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.’”

⁴ Then the officials told the king, “Let this man be put to death because he’s undermining the efforts^[b] of the soldiers who remain in this city and that of all the people by speaking words like these to them. Indeed, this man is not seeking the well-being of this people, but rather their harm.”

⁵ King Zedekiah said, “Look, he’s in your hands, and the king can do nothing to you.” ⁶ So they threw Jeremiah into a cistern that belonged to the king’s son Malchijah and was located in the courtyard of the guard. When they let Jeremiah down with ropes, because there was no water in the cistern—only mud—Jeremiah sank into the mud.

Jeremiah Rescued from the Cistern

⁷ Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch^[c] in the king’s house, heard that Jeremiah had been put in the cistern. The king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate, ⁸ so Ebed-melech went out of the palace and spoke to the king: ⁹ “Your majesty,^[d] these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to the prophet Jeremiah by throwing him into the cistern. He will die where he is because of the famine since there is no more bread in the city.”

¹⁰ Then the king ordered Ebed-melech the Ethiopian:^[e] “Thirty men are at your disposal. Take them with you and bring up Jeremiah the prophet from the cistern before he dies.” ¹¹ So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to the palace, underneath the storeroom. He took worn out rags and worn out clothes from there, and using ropes he lowered them down to Jeremiah in the cistern.

¹² Ebed-melech the Ethiopian told Jeremiah, “Put the worn out rags and clothes under your armpits under the ropes,” and Jeremiah did as he said.^{[f] 13} They pulled Jeremiah with the ropes and brought him up from the cistern, but Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.