37And king Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had made king, reigned as king in the land of Judah in place of Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim. ²But he and his servants and the people of the land did not listen to the words of Yahweh that he spoke by the hand of Jeremiah the prophet. ³And king Zedekiah sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying,^a “Please pray for us to Yahweh our God.” ⁴Now Jeremiah was coming and going out in the midst of the people and they had not put him in the house of imprisonment. ⁵And the army of Pharaoh had come out from Egypt, and the Chaldeans, who were laying siege to Jerusalem, heard their report and they withdrew from Jerusalem.

⁶And the word of Yahweh came to Jeremiah the prophet, saying,^b ⁷“Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘This is what you shall say to the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of me, “Look, the army of Pharaoh, which set out to help you, is going to return to his land Egypt. ⁸And the Chaldeans will return, and they will fight against this city, and they will capture it, and they will burn it with fire.” ’ ⁹Thus says Yahweh: ‘You must not deceive yourselves, saying,^c “Surely the Chaldeans will go from us,” for they will not go. ¹⁰For even if you struck the whole army of the Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and only men pierced through remained among them, each one in his tent, they would rise up and they would burn this city with fire.’ ”

Jeremiah is Arrested and Put in Prison

¹¹And then,^d at the withdrawing of the army of the Chaldeans from Jerusalem before^e the army of Pharaoh, ¹²Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to receive a portion from there in the midst of the people. ¹³And when^f he was at the Gate of Benjamin, there was a sentry on duty^g whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, and he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying,^h “You are deserting to the Chaldeans!” ¹⁴And Jeremiah said, “That is a lie! I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.” But he would not listen to him. So Irijah seized Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. ¹⁵And the officials were angry at Jeremiah and they struck him. And they put him in prison,ⁱ in the house of Jonathan the secretary, for they had converted it to the prison^j. ¹⁶So Jeremiah came to the dungeon^k, even to the vaulted cells, and Jeremiah stayed there many days.

¹⁷Then King Zedekiah sent and fetched him. And the king questioned him in secrecy in his house, and he said, “Is there a word from Yahweh?” And Jeremiah said, “There is.” And he said, “You will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon.”

¹⁸Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “What did I do wrong to you, or to your servants, or to this people, that you have put me in prison?^l ¹⁹And where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying,^m ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you and against this land’? ²⁰Now hear please, my lord the king, please let my plea fall before you.ⁿ You must not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary, so that I will not die there.” ²¹So King Zedekiah commanded, and they handed Jeremiah over in the courtyard of the guard, and they gave to him a round loaf of bread from the street of the bakers every day^o until the finishing of all the bread from the city. And Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the guard.

Jeremiah is Thrown into the Pit of Malchiah

38Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah was saying to all the people, saying,^a ²“Thus says Yahweh, ‘The one who stays in this city will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the plague. But the one who goes out to the Chaldeans will live. And his life will be for him as booty, and he will live.’ ³Thus says Yahweh, ‘Surely this city will be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.’ ”

⁴Then the officials said to the king, “Please, this man must be killed, because^b he is making slack the hands of the soldiers^c who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking to them words like these, for this man is not seeking for welfare^d to this people, but only^e for harm.” ⁵And Zedekiah the king said, “Look, he is in your hand, for the king is not able to do a thing against you.” ⁶So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the pit^f of Malchiah, the son of the king, which was in the courtyard of the guard. And they let Jeremiah down by ropes. Now in the pit^g there was no water,^h but onlyⁱ mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.

⁷When Ebed-melech the Cushite, a eunuch^j who was in the house of the king, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the pit^k—now the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin— ⁸Ebed-melech went out from the house of the king and spoke to the king, saying,^l ⁹“My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, in that they have thrown him into the pit,^m and he will die thereⁿ because of^o starvation, for there is no longer any bread in the city.” ¹⁰Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Cushite, saying,^p “Take with you^q these thirty men and pull Jeremiah the prophet up from the pit^r before^s he dies.”

¹¹So Ebed-melech took the men with him^t and went to the palace of the king, to a place beneath the storehouse, and he took from there rags^u and worn-out clothes.^v And he let them down into the pit^w by ropes to Jeremiah. ¹²Then Ebed-melech the Cushite said to Jeremiah, “Please put the rags^x and worn-out clothes^y under the joints of your arms under the ropes,” and Jeremiah did so. ¹³And they pulled Jeremiah by the ropes and brought him up from the pit.^z And Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the guard.

¹⁴And Zedekiah the king sent and made someone bring Jeremiah the prophet to him, to the third entrance that was at the temple^a of Yahweh. And the king said to Jeremiah, “I am asking you something,^b you must not hide anything^c from me.” ¹⁵And Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, will you not surely kill me? Besides,^d if I advise you, you will not listen to me. ¹⁶So Zedekiah the king swore to Jeremiah in secret, saying,^e “As Yahweh lives,^f who has made for us this life, I will not kill you and I will not give you into the hand of these men who are seeking your life.”

¹⁷Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘If only you will go surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then you^g will live, and this city will not be burned with fire, and you will live, you and your house. ¹⁸But if you do not go surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then 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.’ ”

¹⁹And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest they give me into their hand and they abuse me.” ²⁰And Jeremiah said, “They will not give you over. Please obey the voice of Yahweh with regard to what I am saying to you, and it will go well with you, and you^h will live. ²¹But if you are refusing to surrender, this is the thing that Yahweh has shown me. ²²Now look, all the women who remain in the house of the king of Judah are being led out to the officials of the king of Babylon. And look, they are saying,

‘Your trusted friendsⁱ have misled you,

and they have prevailed against you.

Your feet are stuck in the mud,

so they turned backward.’

²³And all your wives and your children will be led out to the Chaldeans, and you will not escape from their hand, but by the hand of the king of Babylon you will be seized, and this city will burn with fire.”

²⁴And Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “No man must know about these words so that you will not die. ²⁵And if the officials hear that I have spoken with you, and they come to you and say to you, ‘Please tell us what you said to the king. You must not conceal it from us so that we will not kill you. And what did the king say to you?’ ²⁶Then you shall say to them, ‘I was presenting my plea before^j the king, to not cause me to return to the house of Jonathan to die there.’ ” ²⁷And all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him, and he informed them like all these words that the king commanded. So they fell silent, for the conversation^k was not heard. ²⁸And Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was captured. And it happened that Jerusalem was captured.^l

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Footnotes

aLiterally “to say”
bLiterally “to say”
cLiterally “to say”
dLiterally “And it will happen”
eLiterally “from the face of”
fLiterally “And it was”
gLiterally “an owner of supervision”
hLiterally “to say”
iLiterally “the house of the fetters”
jLiterally “house of the imprisonment”
kLiterally “house of the cistern”
lLiterally “the house of the imprisonment”
mLiterally “to say”
nLiterally “to the face of you”
oLiterally “for the day”
aLiterally “to say”
bLiterally “unto thus”
cLiterally “the men of the war”
dOr “peace”
eLiterally “but if”
fOr “cistern”
gOr “cistern”
hHebrew “waters”
iLiterally “but if”
jLiterally “a man of a eunuch”
kOr “cistern”
lLiterally “to say”
mOr “cistern”
nLiterally “in it”
oLiterally “from the face of”
pLiterally “to say”
qLiterally “in your hand”
rOr “cistern”
sLiterally “at not yet”
tLiterally “in his hand”
uLiterally “the rags of rags”
vLiterally “rags of ragged clothes”
wOr “cistern”
xLiterally “rags of the rags”
yLiterally “ragged clothes”
zOr “cistern”
aLiterally “house”
bLiterally “a thing”
cLiterally “a thing”
dLiterally “And”
eLiterally “to say”
fLiterally “Life of Yahweh”
gLiterally “your life” or “your soul”
hLiterally “your life” or “your soul”
iLiterally “The men of your peace”
jLiterally “to the face of”
kLiterally “word”
l Jeremiah 38:28b in the Hebrew Bible is 39:1a in the English Bible