Jeremiah 38:1–13

Jeremiah in a Dry Well

38Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchiah heard that I was telling the people that ²the Lord had said, “Whoever stays on in the city will die in war or of starvation or disease. But those who go out and surrender to the Babylonians will not be killed; they will at least escape with their lives.” ³I was also telling them that the Lord had said, “I am going to give the city to the Babylonian army, and they will capture it.”

⁴Then the officials went to the king and said, “This man must be put to death. By talking like this he is making the soldiers in the city lose their courage, and he is doing the same thing to everyone else left in the city. He is not trying to help the people; he only wants to hurt them.”

⁵King Zedekiah answered, “Very well, then, do what you wish with him; I can’t stop you.” ⁶So they took me and let me down by ropes into Prince Malchiah’s well, which was in the palace courtyard. There was no water in the well, only mud, and I sank down in it.

⁷However, Ebedmelech the Ethiopian,^t a eunuch who worked in the royal palace, heard that they had put me in the well. At that time the king was holding court at the Benjamin Gate. ⁸So Ebedmelech went there and said to the king, ⁹“Your Majesty, what these men have done is wrong. They have put Jeremiah in the well, where he is sure to die of starvation, since there is no more food in the city.” ¹⁰Then the king ordered Ebedmelech to take with him three men and to pull me out of the well before I died. ¹¹So Ebedmelech went with the men to the palace storeroom and got some worn-out clothing which he let down to me by ropes. ¹²He told me to put the rags under my arms, so that the ropes wouldn’t hurt me. I did this, ¹³and they pulled me up out of the well. After that I was kept in the courtyard.