Jeremiah 38

1Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashur, Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashur son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah spoke to all the people, saying,

2Thus says Yahweh: Whoever stays in this city will die by sword, famine, and plague, but whoever goes out to the Chaldeans will live, and his life will be to him a spoil, and he will live.

3Thus says Yahweh, "This city will certainly be delivered into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it."

4The princes said to the king, “Please let this man die, for he thus slackens the hands of the warriors remaining in this city and the hands of all the people by speaking these words to them; this man seeks no peace for this people, but only harm.”

5Zedekiah the king said, "See, he is in your hand, for the king cannot do anything to you."

6They took Jeremiah and hurled him into the cistern of Malchiah son of the king, which was in the court of the guard, and they lowered Jeremiah into it with cords. The cistern held no water, only mire, and Jeremiah sank in the mire.

7Ebed-melech the Cushite, a eunuch in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern while the king sat in the Benjamin Gate.

8Ebed-melech went out from the king's house and spoke to the king, saying,

9My lord the king, these men have mistreated Jeremiah the prophet in everything they did to him by hurling him into the cistern, and he will die there beneath it because of the famine, for no bread remains in the city.

10The king commanded Ebed-melech the Cushite, saying, "Take thirty men with you from here, and bring up Jeremiah the prophet from the dungeon before he dies."

11Ebed-melech took the men with him and entered the king's house beneath the treasury, took worn-out rags and old rotten rags from there, and lowered them by cords into the cistern to Jeremiah.

12Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, "Now put these old rags and rotten cloths under your armpits beneath the ropes." Jeremiah did so.

13They pulled Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the cistern, and Jeremiah remained in the guard's courtyard.

14King Zedekiah sent and brought Jeremiah the prophet to the third entrance in the house of Yahweh. The king said to Jeremiah, "I am asking you a matter; do not conceal a matter from me."

15Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I tell you, will you not surely kill me? And if I advise you, you will not listen to me."

16King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah privately, saying, "As Yahweh lives, who made this soul for us, I will not kill you, nor deliver you into the hands of these men who seek your life."

17Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "Thus says Yahweh, God of Hosts, God of Israel: If you go out to the princes of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared, this city will not be burned with fire, and you and your household will live."

18But if you do not go out to the princes of the king of Babylon, this city will be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they will burn it with fire, and you will not escape from their hand.

19King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "I fear the Jews who have defected to the Chaldeans, lest they turn me over into their hands and abuse me."

20Jeremiah said, "They will not hand you over. Please obey Yahweh's voice in what I speak to you, and it will go well for you—your soul will live."

21But if you refuse to go out, this is the word that Yahweh has shown me.

22Look, all the women remaining in the house of Judah's king will be led out to the princes of Babylon's king, and they will say, "Your close friends have deceived you and prevailed over you; your feet sink in the mire, and they turn back."

23They will lead out all your wives and your children to the Chaldeans, and you yourself will not escape from their hand, for the king of Babylon will seize you by the hand, and you will burn this city with fire.

24Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "Let no man know about these matters, and you will not die."

25But if the princes hear that I spoke with you, and they come to you and say to you, “Tell us now what you said to the king; do not conceal it from us, and we will not put you to death—what the king said to you.”

26Then you shall say to them, “I laid my supplication before the king, that he would not return me to Jonathan’s house to die there.”

27All the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him, and he declared to them all these matters just as the king had commanded. They fell silent with him, for the issue had not been heard.

28Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured, and he was there when Jerusalem was captured.