Beginning
Chapter 38
Jeremiah in the Muddy Cistern. 1 Shephatiah, the son of Mattan, Gedaliah, the son of Pashhur, Jucal, the son of Shemaliah, and Pashhur, the son of Malchiah, heard Jeremiah speaking these words to all the people, 2 “Thus says the Lord: Whoever remains in this city will die by the sword, or famine, or pestilence. However, anyone who leaves it and surrenders to the Chaldeans will live; his life will be spared and he will live. 3 Thus says the Lord: Without any doubt this city will be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon who will capture it.
4 Then the officials said to the king, “This man should be put to death. There is no question that he is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city as well as all the people by saying such things to them. For this man is not interested in the welfare of these people but rather is seeking their ruin.”
5 King Zedekiah replied, “He is in your power.” For the king was powerless to oppose them. 6 Therefore, they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting him down with ropes. There was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.
7 However, it so happened that an Ethiopian, Ebed-melech,[a] who was a eunuch in the king’s palace, heard that Jeremiah had been put into the cistern. Therefore, he decided to report this to the king, 8 and he left the palace to speak to the king who at that moment was seated at the Benjamin Gate. 9 “My lord king,” he said, “these men have acted wickedly in their treatment of the prophet Jeremiah. They threw him into a cistern and left him there to die of hunger, for there is no more bread left in the city.”
10 The king instructed Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, to take three men along with him and lift the prophet Jeremiah out of the cistern before he perished. 11 Ebed-melech went to the palace with the men after first taking from a storage closet in the palace some old tattered rags and worn-out clothes which he lowered with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. 12 Then Ebed-melech the Ethiopian called down to Jeremiah, “Put those old rags and clothes under your armpits to pad the ropes.” Jeremiah did so, 13 and then they pulled him up with the ropes out of the cistern. But Jeremiah continued to remain in the court of the guard.
14 King Zedekiah summoned the prophet Jeremiah and received him at the third entrance to the temple of the Lord. “I have something to ask you,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Do not conceal anything from me.” 15 Jeremiah replied to Zedekiah, “If I speak in a straightforward manner, you will have me put to death, won’t you? And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.” 16 But King Zedekiah then swore this oath secretly to Jeremiah, “As the Lord lives who gave us the breath of life, I will not put you to death, nor will I hand you over to those who seek your life.”
17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared, and this city will not be burned to the ground, and you and your family will live. 18 However, if you do not surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, this city will fall into the hands of the Chaldeans, who will destroy it with fire, and you yourself will not be able to escape their clutches.”
19 King Zedekiah then said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Chaldeans. It very well might be that I will be handed over to them and they will be ruthless in their treatment of me.” 20 Jeremiah replied, “You will not be handed over to them. If you obey the Lord by doing everything I tell you, all will go well with you, and your life will be spared. 21 But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has shown me. 22 He has given me a vision of all the women left in the palace of the king of Judah being led off to the officials of the king of Babylon and saying,
‘They have misled you and triumphed over you,
your trusted friends.
Now that your feet are stuck in the mud,
they have deserted you.’
23 “All your wives and your children will be led off to the Chaldeans, and you yourself will not escape their clutches. Rather, you will be handed over to the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned to the ground.”
24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know of this conversation, or you will die. 25 If the officials learn that I have spoken with you, and they say to you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what he said to you; do not hold anything back from us or we will put you to death,’ 26 give them this answer, ‘I was simply pleading with the king not to send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.’ ”
27 All the officials did come to Jeremiah to interrogate him, and he replied to them in the very same words that the king had commanded. Therefore, they ceased to question him, for no one had heard their conversation. 28 And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was captured.
Chapter 39
Jeremiah and Gedaliah. 1 In the tenth month of the ninth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, marched into battle against Jerusalem with his entire army and laid siege to it. 2 Then, in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, on the ninth day of the fourth month, a breach was made in the wall of the city. 3 Thereupon, all of the officials of the king of Babylon came forward and took their seats at the middle gate: Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim, who was a high dignitary, another Nergal-sharezer, who was the chief astrologer, and all of the other dignitaries in the king’s service.
4 When King Zedekiah of Judah beheld them, he and all of his soldiers fled, departing from the city during the night by way of the king’s garden through the gate between the two walls, and they set off in the direction of the Arabah. 5 However, the army of the Chaldeans set off in pursuit of them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. After they had captured him, they took him to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, at Riblah in the land of Hamath, who passed sentence on him.
6 The king of Babylon ordered the sons of Zedekiah to be slaughtered at Riblah before their father’s eyes, and he also sentenced all the nobles of Judah to be put to death. 7 Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah and ordered him to be taken to Babylon bound in chains.
8 The Chaldeans burned to the ground the royal palace and the houses of the people, and they demolished the walls of Jerusa-lem. 9 Then Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, deported to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the remaining workmen. 10 However Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and at the same time, he gave them vineyards and fields.
11 Concerning Jeremiah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon gave the following orders to Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, 12 “Take him and look after him. Do him no harm, but grant him whatever he requests.” 13 Then Nebuzaradan, the commander, the commander of the guard, and Nebushazban, a high-ranking dignitary, and Nergal-sharezer, an important official, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon 14 ordered Jeremiah to be taken from the court of the guard and entrusted to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to be brought safely home. Thus he remained among his own people.
15 A Blessing for Ebed-melech. While Jeremiah was confined in the court of the guard, the word of the Lord came to him. 16 “Go and tell Ebed-melech the Ethiopian: Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am now going to fulfill the words I have spoken against this city for its ruin and not for its prosperity, and those promises will be fulfilled before your very eyes.
17 “However, I will rescue you on that day, says the Lord. You will not be handed over to those whom you so greatly fear. 18 For I will save you. You will not fall by the sword, but you will escape with your life because you have placed your trust in me, says the Lord.”
Chapter 40
Jeremiah Remains in Judah. 1 This word came to Jeremiah from the Lord after Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, had released him at Ramah, where he had found him imprisoned in chains with all the other captives from Jerusalem and Judah who were being deported to Babylon.
2 The commander of the guard took Jeremiah aside and said to him, “The Lord, your God, foretold the disaster that would overwhelm this place. 3 Now he has brought about what he threatened to do to your people because they sinned against the Lord and refused to obey him. 4 But today I am removing the chains from your hands. If you so wish, you can come with me to Babylon, and I will take good care of you. However, if you do not wish to come with me to Babylon, you need not do so. Endless stretches of land lie before you. Go wherever you think it is best for you.”
5 Then, before Jeremiah could reply, Nebuzaradan added, “You can also go back to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has appointed governor of the towns of Judah, and stay with him among your people, or go anywhere else you please.” Then the commander of the guard gave him food and gifts and let him go. 6 Jeremiah thereupon went to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, in Mizpah, and he stayed with him among the people who were left in the land.
7 [b]When all the military leaders of the forces still in the open country heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, as governor over the land and had placed in his care the men, women, and children who were the most destitute of all the people there who had not been carried off into exile to Babylon, 8 they went with their forces to Gedaliah in Mizpah: Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah; Johanan and Jonathan, the sons of Kareah; Seraiah, the son of Tanhumeth; the sons of Ephai of Netophah; Jezaniah, the son of Beth-maacah.
9 Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, swore an oath to reassure them and their men, saying, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Settle down in the land, serve the king of Babylon, and all will go well with you. 10 I myself will remain in Mizpah to represent you before the Chaldeans who come to us. As for you, harvest the wine, the summer fruits, and the oil. Store them in your vessels and settle in the towns that you have seized.”
11 When all the Judeans who were living in Moab with the Ammonites, in Edom, and elsewhere heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and had appointed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, as governor over them, 12 they all returned to Judah from the places to which they had been driven. They presented themselves to Gedaliah at Mizpah and gathered a rich harvest of wine and summer fruits.
13 Gedaliah’s Murder. Now Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the leaders of the forces still stationed in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah 14 and said to him, “Are you at all aware that Baalis, the king of the Ammonites, has sent Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, to assassinate you?” But Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, refused to believe them.
15 Then Johanan, the son of Kareah, spoke privately to Gedaliah at Mizpah, saying, “Please authorize me to go and kill Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah. No one will be the wiser. Why should he be allowed to assassinate you, thus causing all the Jews who have rallied around you to be scattered and the remnant of Judah to perish?” 16 But Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, replied to Johanan, the son of Kareah, “Do not even think of doing such a thing. What you are saying about Ishmael is untrue.”
Chapter 41
1 In the seventh month, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family and one of the chief officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. While they were eating together there at Mizpah, 2 Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men who had accompanied him rose up and struck Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with their swords and assassinated him because the king of Babylon had appointed him to be the governor of the land. 3 Ishmael also killed all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah in Mizpah as well as the Chaldean soldiers who were present.
4 On the day after Gedaliah had been slain, before news of the assassination had spread, 5 eighty men arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria, with their beards shaved and their clothes torn and their bodies covered with self-inflicted gashes. They were carrying grain offerings and incense to present at the temple of the Lord.
6 Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he proceeded, and as he met them, he said, 7 “Come to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam.” But when they had proceeded a good distance into the city, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and his men slaughtered them and threw them into a cistern.
8 However, there were ten men among them who cried out to Ishmael, “Do not kill us. We have large stores of wheat and barley, oil and honey, buried in the fields.” Therefore, he spared them and did not kill them, as he had done with their companions. 9 The cistern into which Ishmael threw the corpses of all the men he had killed was the large cistern that King Asa had built as a defensive measure against Baasha, the king of Israel. Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, filled this cistern with the slain.
10 Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, then led away as prisoners the remaining people who were in Mizpah—the king’s daughters as well as all the others who were left there, and over whom Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, had appointed Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam. With these captives, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, set out to cross over to the Ammonites.
11 Flight to Egypt. When Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all of the army officers who were with him learned of the crimes that Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, had committed, 12 they took all their men and set forth to attack Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, finally catching up with him by the great pool in Gibeon.
13 At the sight of Johanan, the son of Kareah, and the other army leaders, the people who were Ishmael’s captives were delighted. 14 All the people whom Ishmael had taken as prisoners from Mizpah went over to Johanan, the son of Kareah. 15 However, Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, escaped from the clutches of Johanan and fled to the Ammonites with eight men.
16 Then Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all the military leaders who were with him, led away all of the remaining people whom Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, had carried away as prisoners from Mizpah after he had slain Gedaliah—soldiers, women, children, and eunuchs, whom he had brought from Gibeon. 17 After they started out, they stopped at Chinham, near Bethlehem, intending to flee into Egypt. 18 They had no wish to engage in a confrontation with the Chaldeans, since Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, had slain Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed as governor over the country.
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