THE
BOOK OF JEREMIAH
Jeremiah Chapter
38
1
¶ Then Shephatiah the son of Mattan,
and Gedaliah the son of Pashur,
and Jucal the son of Shelemiah,
and Pashur the son of Malchiah,
heard Jeremiah say to the people,
2
The LORD says, He who remains in this city will die by
the sword, by the famine, and by pestilence: but he that goes out to the Chaldeans will live; for he will escape with his life, and
live.
3
The LORD says, This city will surely be delivered into
the hand of the army of the king of
4
Therefore the princes said to the king, We plead with you to have this man put
to death: for he 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
is not seeking the welfare of these people, but their harm.
5
Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is
in no position to do any thing against you.
6
Then they took Jeremiah, and threw him into the cistern of Malchiah
the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of
the prison: and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. And there was no
water in the cistern, only mud: and Jeremiah sank in the mud.
7
Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs
who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the cistern;
and that the king was sitting in the gate of Benjamin;
8
Ebedmelech left the king’s palace, and spoke to the king,
saying,
9
My lord the king, everything these men did to Jeremiah the prophet was evil,
they have thrown him into the cistern; and he is going to die of hunger in the
place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city.
10
Then the king gave Ebedmelech the Ethiopian orders,
saying, Take from here thirty men, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the
cistern, before he dies.
11
So Ebedmelech took charge of the men, and went into
the house of the king, and from under the storehouse took old torn clothes and
old rotten rags, and let them down by ropes into the cistern to Jeremiah.
12
And Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, Put these old torn clothes and rotten rags
under your armpits on top of the ropes. And Jeremiah did so.
13
So they drew Jeremiah up with ropes, and lifted him up out of the cistern: and
Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.
14
¶ Then Zedekiah the king sent men, who brought the prophet Jeremiah to
him at the third entrance to the house of the LORD: and the king said to Jeremiah,
I want to ask you something; do not hide anything from me.
15
Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, If I tell you, you
will certainly put me to death, won’t you? and if I
give you advice, you will not listen to me, will you?
16
So Zedekiah the king swore privately to Jeremiah, saying, As the LORD
lives, who gave us our life, I will not put you to death, nor will I turn you
over to the men who want to kill you.
17
Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, The LORD, the God of armies, the God of Israel
says this; If you will surrender to the officers of
the king of
18
But if you will not surrender to the officers of the king of
19
Then Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews who have gone
over to the Chaldeans, lest they put me in their
hands, and they abuse me.
20
But Jeremiah said, They will not put you in their
hands. I plead with you to obey the voice of the LORD, in what I am telling
you: then it will be well with you, and you will live.
21
But if you refuse to surrender, this is the verdict that the LORD has
shown me:
22
I saw, all the women who were left in the palace of the king of Judah brought
out to the officers of the king of Babylon, and those women will say to
you, Your friends have led you astray, and had their way with you: now your
feet have sunk in the mire, and they have deserted you.
23
So they will bring all your wives and your children out to the Chaldeans: and you will not escape from their hand, but
will be captured by the king of
24
Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, Do not let anyone know what was said here, or
you will die.
25
When the officials hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you, and
say, Now tell us what you have said to the king, and what he said to you, do
not keep it from us, or we will kill you:
26
Then you will tell them, I presented to the king my humble plea,
that he would not send me back to Jonathan’s house, to die there.
27
Then all the officials went to Jeremiah, and questioned him: and he answered
them as the king had commanded. So they stopped questioning him; since they had
not heard what was said.
28
So Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison until the day that