⁷ But Ebed-melech, a Cushite court official employed in the king’s palace, heard Jeremiah had been put into the cistern. While the king was sitting at the Benjamin Gate,^{(A) 8} Ebed-melech went from the king’s palace and spoke to the king: ⁹ “My lord the king, these men have been evil in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have dropped him into the cistern where he will die from hunger, because there is no more bread in the city.”^(B)

¹⁰ So the king commanded Ebed-melech, the Cushite, “Take from here 30 men under your authority and pull Jeremiah the prophet up from the cistern before he dies.”

¹¹ So Ebed-melech took the men under his authority and went to the king’s palace to a place below the storehouse.^[a] From there he took old rags and worn-out clothes and lowered them by ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. ¹² Ebed-melech the Cushite cried out to Jeremiah, “Place these old rags and clothes between your armpits and the ropes.” Jeremiah did so, ¹³ and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern, but he continued to stay in the guard’s courtyard.

¹⁵ Now the word of the Lord had come to Jeremiah when he was confined in the guard’s courtyard:^{(A) 16} “Go tell Ebed-melech the Cushite:^(B) This is what the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am about to fulfill My words for harm and not for good against this city. They will take place before your eyes on that day. ¹⁷ But I will rescue you on that day”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“and you will not be handed over to the men you fear. ¹⁸ Indeed, I will certainly deliver you so that you do not fall by the sword. Because you have trusted in Me, you will keep your life like the spoils of war.”^(C) This is the Lord’s declaration.