Jeremiah 38:1–13

Then Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and ^aJucal the son of Shelemiah, and ^bPashur the son of Malchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken ^cunto all the people, saying, ²Thus saith the Lord, ^dHe that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: ^dbut he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live. ³Thus saith the Lord, ^eThis city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, ^fwhich shall take it. ⁴Therefore the princes said unto the king, We beseech thee, ^glet this man be put to death: for thus ^hhe weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt. ⁵Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for ⁱthe king is not he that can do any thing against you. ⁶Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into ^kthe dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was ^lin the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And ^min the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah ⁿsunk in the mire.

⁷Now when ^oEbed-melech ^pthe Ethiopian, one of ^qthe eunuchs which was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king then sitting ^rin the gate of Benjamin; ^8oEbed-melech went forth out of the king’s house, and spake to the king, saying, ⁹My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die for hunger ^sin the place where he is: for ^tthere is no more bread in the city. ¹⁰Then the king commanded ^oEbed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die. ¹¹So ^oEbed-melech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took thence old cast ^uclouts and old rotten rags, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah. ¹²And ^oEbed-melech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now these old cast clouts and rotten rags under thine ^varmholes under the cords. And Jeremiah did so. ¹³So they drew up Jeremiah ^wwith cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.