Jeremiah 38:6–14

⁶Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the ^1acistern of Malchijah the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard; and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. Now in the cistern there was no water but only ^bmire, and Jeremiah sank into the mire.

⁷But ^aEbed-melech the Ethiopian, ¹a ^beunuch, while he was in the king’s palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. Now the king was sitting in the ^cGate of Benjamin;

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

⁹“My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet whom they have cast into the cistern; and he ¹will die right where he is because of the famine, for there is ^ano more bread in the city.”

¹⁰Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take in your hand thirty men from here and bring up Jeremiah the prophet from the cistern before he dies.”

¹¹So Ebed-melech took the men in his hand and went into the king’s palace to a place beneath the storeroom and took from there worn-out clothes and worn-out rags and let them down by ropes into the cistern to Jeremiah.

¹²Then Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Now put these worn-out clothes and rags under your armpits under the ropes”; and Jeremiah did so.

¹³So they pulled Jeremiah up with the ropes and brought him up from the cistern, and Jeremiah stayed in the ^acourt of the guard.

Zedekiah Sends for Jeremiah

¹⁴Then King Zedekiah ^asent and ¹had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance that is in the house of Yahweh; and the king said to Jeremiah, “I am going to ^bask you something; do not hide anything from me.”