Jeremiah 38
38
Jeremiah in a Cistern
1Now Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehucal#38:1 Hebrew Jucal, a variant spelling of Jehucal; see 37:3. son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah had been telling the people. He had been saying, 2“This is what the Lord says: ‘Everyone who stays in Jerusalem will die from war, famine, or disease, but those who surrender to the Babylonians#38:2 Or Chaldeans; also in 38:18, 19, 23. will live. Their reward will be life. They will live!’ 3The Lord also says: ‘The city of Jerusalem will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.’”
4So these officials went to the king and said, “Sir, this man must die! That kind of talk will undermine the morale of the few fighting men we have left, as well as that of all the people. This man is a traitor!”
5King Zedekiah agreed. “All right,” he said. “Do as you like. I can’t stop you.”
6So the officials took Jeremiah from his cell and lowered him by ropes into an empty cistern in the prison yard. It belonged to Malkijah, a member of the royal family. There was no water in the cistern, but there was a thick layer of mud at the bottom, and Jeremiah sank down into it.
7But Ebed-melech the Ethiopian,#38:7 Hebrew the Cushite. an important court official, heard that Jeremiah was in the cistern. At that time the king was holding court at the Benjamin Gate, 8so Ebed-melech rushed from the palace to speak with him. 9“My lord the king,” he said, “these men have done a very evil thing in putting Jeremiah the prophet into the cistern. He will soon die of hunger, for almost all the bread in the city is gone.”
10So the king told Ebed-melech, “Take thirty of my men with you, and pull Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies.”
11So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to a room in the palace beneath the treasury, where he found some old rags and discarded clothing. He carried these to the cistern and lowered them to Jeremiah on a rope. 12Ebed-melech called down to Jeremiah, “Put these rags under your armpits to protect you from the ropes.” Then when Jeremiah was ready, 13they pulled him out. So Jeremiah was returned to the courtyard of the guard—the palace prison—where he remained.
Zedekiah Questions Jeremiah
14One day King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah and had him brought to the third entrance of the Lord’s Temple. “I want to ask you something,” the king said. “And don’t try to hide the truth.”
15Jeremiah said, “If I tell you the truth, you will kill me. And if I give you advice, you won’t listen to me anyway.”
16So King Zedekiah secretly promised him, “As surely as the Lord our Creator lives, I will not kill you or hand you over to the men who want you dead.”
17Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the Babylonian officers, you and your family will live, and the city will not be burned down. 18But if you refuse to surrender, you will not escape! This city will be handed over to the Babylonians, and they will burn it to the ground.’”
19“But I am afraid to surrender,” the king said, “for the Babylonians may hand me over to the Judeans who have defected to them. And who knows what they will do to me!”
20Jeremiah replied, “You won’t be handed over to them if you choose to obey the Lord. Your life will be spared, and all will go well for you. 21But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has revealed to me: 22All the women left in your palace will be brought out and given to the officers of the Babylonian army. Then the women will taunt you, saying,
‘What fine friends you have!
They have betrayed and misled you.
When your feet sank in the mud,
they left you to your fate!’
23All your wives and children will be led out to the Babylonians, and you will not escape. You will be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned down.”
24Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Don’t tell anyone you told me this, or you will die! 25My officials may hear that I spoke to you, and they may say, ‘Tell us what you and the king were talking about. If you don’t tell us, we will kill you.’ 26If this happens, just tell them you begged me not to send you back to Jonathan’s dungeon, for fear you would die there.”
27Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the king’s officials came to Jeremiah and asked him why the king had called for him. But Jeremiah followed the king’s instructions, and they left without finding out the truth. No one had overheard the conversation between Jeremiah and the king. 28And Jeremiah remained a prisoner in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.
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Jeremiah 38: NLT
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Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 38
38
1And Shephatyah son of Mattan, and Geḏalyahu son of Pashḥur, and Yuḵal son of Shelemyahu, and Pashḥur son of Malkiyah heard the words which Yirmeyahu had spoken to all the people, saying,
2“Thus said יהוה, ‘He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by scarcity of food, and by pestilence, but whoever goes over to the Kasdim shall live. And his life shall be as a prize to him, and he shall live.’
3“Thus said יהוה, ‘This city is certainly given into the hand of the sovereign of Baḇel’s army, and he shall take it.’ ”
4Then the heads said to the sovereign, “Please, let this man be put to death, because he is weakening the hands of the men of battle who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man does not seek the peace of this people, but the evil.”
5And Tsiḏqiyahu the sovereign said, “Look, he is in your hand. For the sovereign is unable to do any matter against you.”
6And they took Yirmeyahu and threw him into the dungeon of Malkiyahu the sovereign’s son, which was in the court of the guard, and they let Yirmeyahu down with ropes. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mud. So Yirmeyahu sank in the mud.
7And Eḇeḏ-Meleḵ the Kushite, one of the eunuchs, who was in the sovereign’s house, heard that they had put Yirmeyahu in the dungeon. And the sovereign was sitting at the Gate of Binyamin,
8And Eḇeḏ-Meleḵ came from the sovereign’s house and spoke to the sovereign, saying,
9“My master the sovereign, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Yirmeyahu the prophet, whom they have thrown into the dungeon, and he is likely to die from hunger in the place where he is, for there is no more bread in the city.”
10And the sovereign commanded Eḇeḏ-Meleḵ the Kushite, saying, “Take thirty men from here with you, and lift Yirmeyahu the prophet out of the dungeon before he dies.”
11So Eḇeḏ-Meleḵ took the men with him and went into the house of the sovereign under the treasury, and took old clothes and old rags from there, and let them down by ropes into the dungeon to Yirmeyahu.
12And Eḇeḏ-Meleḵ the Kushite said to Yirmeyahu, “Please put these old clothes and rags under your armpits, under the ropes.” And Yirmeyahu did so,
13and they pulled Yirmeyahu up with ropes and lifted him out of the dungeon. And Yirmeyahu remained in the court of the guard.
14Then Tsiḏqiyahu the sovereign sent and had Yirmeyahu the prophet brought to him at the third entrance of the House of יהוה. And the sovereign said to Yirmeyahu, “I am asking you a matter. Do not hide a matter from me.”
15And Yirmeyahu said to Tsiḏqiyahu, “If I declare it to you, shall you not put me to death? And if I give you advice, you shall not listen to me.”
16But Tsiḏqiyahu the sovereign swore secretly to Yirmeyahu, saying, “As יהוה lives, who made us this life, I do not put you to death, nor do I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life.”
17And Yirmeyahu said to Tsiḏqiyahu, “Thus said יהוה, the Elohim of hosts, the Elohim of Yisra’ĕl, ‘If you do indeed surrender to the heads of the sovereign of Baḇel, then your being shall live, and this city not be burned with fire. And you and your house shall live.
18But if you do not surrender to the heads of the sovereign of Baḇel, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Kasdim, and they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.’ ”
19Then Tsiḏqiyahu the sovereign said to Yirmeyahu, “I am afraid of the Yehuḏim who have gone over to the Kasdim, lest they give me into their hand, and they maltreat me.”
20But Yirmeyahu said, “They shall not hand you over. Please, obey the voice of יהוה which I speak to you, and let it be well with you, and your life be spared.
21“But if you refuse to surrender, this is the word that יהוה has shown me:
22Then see, all the women who are left in the sovereign of Yehuḏah’s house shall be surrendered to the heads of the sovereign of Baḇel, and see, they are saying, “Your close friends have set upon you and prevailed against you; your feet have sunk in the mire; they have turned away again.”
23And they are going to surrender all your wives and children to the Kasdim, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand, but be taken by the hand of the sovereign of Baḇel, and this city shall be burned with fire.’ ”
24Then Tsiḏqiyahu said to Yirmeyahu, “Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die.
25“But if the heads hear that I have spoken with you, and they come to you and say to you, ‘Declare to us now what you have said to the sovereign, and also what the sovereign said to you. Do not hide it from us, and we do not put you to death,’
26then you shall say to them, ‘I presented my petition before the sovereign, not to send me back to the house of Yonathan to die there.’ ”
27And all the heads came to Yirmeyahu and asked him. And he informed them according to all these words that the sovereign had commanded. And they said no more to him, for the matter was not heard.
28So Yirmeyahu remained in the court of the guard until the day that Yerushalayim was taken, and he was there when Yerushalayim was taken.
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