Jeremiah 38:6–14

⁶So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard.^k They lowered Jeremiah by ropes^l into the cistern; it had no water in it,^m only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.ⁿ

⁷But Ebed-Melek,^o a Cushite,^c an official^dp in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate,^{q 8}Ebed-Melek went out of the palace and said to him, ⁹“My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have thrown him into a cistern,^r where he will starve to death when there is no longer any bread^s in the city.”

¹⁰Then the king commanded Ebed-Melek the Cushite, “Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”

¹¹So Ebed-Melek took the men with him and went to a room under the treasury in the palace. He took some old rags and worn-out clothes from there and let them down with ropes^t to Jeremiah in the cistern. ¹²Ebed-Melek the Cushite said to Jeremiah, “Put these old rags and worn-out clothes under your arms to pad the ropes.” Jeremiah did so, ¹³and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.^u

Zedekiah Questions Jeremiah Again

¹⁴Then King Zedekiah sent^v for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to the third entrance to the temple of the Lord. “I am going to ask you something,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Do not hide^w anything from me.”