Jeremiah Brought Up from the Cistern

1And Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchijah heard the words that Jeremiah was speaking to all the people, saying, 2“Thus says Yahweh, ‘He who stays in this city will die by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans will live and have his own life as spoil and stay alive.’ 3Thus says Yahweh, ‘This city will certainly be given into the hand of the military force of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.’” 4Then the officials said to the king, “Now let this man be put to death, inasmuch as he is making the hands of the men of war who remain in this city as well as the hands of all the people limp, by speaking such words to them; for this man is not seeking peace for this people but rather calamity.” 5So King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your [†]hands; for the king can do nothing against you.” 6Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the [†]cistern of Malchijah the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard; and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. Now in the cistern there was no water but only mire, and Jeremiah sank into the mire. 7But Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, [†]a eunuch, while he was in the king’s palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. Now the king was sitting in the Gate of Benjamin; 8and Ebed-melech went out from 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 cistern; and he [†]will die right where he is because of the famine, for there is no more bread in the city.” 10Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take in your hand thirty men from here and bring up Jeremiah the prophet from the cistern before he dies.” 11So Ebed-melech took the men in his hand and went into the king’s palace to a place beneath the storeroom and took from there worn-out clothes and worn-out rags and let them down by ropes into the cistern to Jeremiah. 12Then Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Now put these worn-out clothes and rags under your armpits under the ropes”; and Jeremiah did so. 13So they pulled Jeremiah up with the ropes and brought him up from the cistern, and Jeremiah stayed in the court of the guard.

Zedekiah Sends for Jeremiah

14Then King Zedekiah sent and [†]had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance that is in the house of Yahweh; and the king said to Jeremiah, “I am going to ask you something; do not hide anything from me.” 15Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, will you not certainly put me to death? Besides, if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.” 16But King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in secret saying, “As Yahweh lives, who made this [†]life for us, surely I will not put you to death, nor will I give you over to the hand of these men who are seeking your [†]life.”

17Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says Yahweh God of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘If you will indeed go out to the [†]officers of the king of Babylon, then [†]you will live, this city will not be burned with fire, and you and your household will live. 18But if you will not go out to the [†]officers of the king of Babylon, then this city will be given over to the hand of the Chaldeans; and they will burn it with fire, and you yourself will not escape from their hand.’” 19Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am anxious because of the Jews who have [†]gone over to the Chaldeans, lest they give me over into their hand and they deal severely with me.” 20But Jeremiah said, “They will not give you over. Please listen to the voice of Yahweh in what I am saying to you, that it may go well with you and [†]you may live. 21But if you keep refusing to go out, this is the word which Yahweh has shown me: 22‘And behold, all of the women who have remained in the house of the king of Judah are going to be brought out to the [†]officers of the king of Babylon; and behold, those women will say,

“[†]Your close friends

Have misled and overpowered you;

While your feet were sunk in the mud,

They turned back.”

23And they will also bring out all your wives and your sons to the Chaldeans, and you yourself will not escape from their hand, but will be seized by the hand of the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned with fire.’”

24Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no man know about these words and you will not die. 25But if the officials hear that I have talked with you and come to you and say to you, ‘Tell us now what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us, and we will not put you to death,’ 26then you are to say to them, ‘I was presenting my petition before the king, not to make me return to the house of Jonathan to die there.’” 27Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him. So he told them in accordance with all these words which the king had commanded; and they ceased speaking with him since the [†]conversation had not been overheard. 28So Jeremiah stayed in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was captured.