Jeremiah 38 - New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Jeremiah Thrown into the Cistern

38 Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, Jucal the ^(A)son of Shelemiah, and ^(B)Pashhur the son of Malchijah heard the words that Jeremiah was speaking to all the people, saying, ² “This is what the Lord says: ‘Anyone who ^(C)stays in this city will die by the ^(D)sword, by famine, or by plague; but anyone who surrenders to the Chaldeans will live and have his own ^(E)life as plunder, and stay alive.’ ³ This is what the Lord says: ‘This city will certainly be ^(F)handed over to the army of the king of Babylon and he will capture it.’” ⁴ Then the ^(G)officials said to the king, “Please have this man put to death, since he is ^[a](H)discouraging the men of war who are left in this city and ^[b]all the people, by speaking words like these to them; for this man ^(I)is not seeking the well-being of this people, but rather their harm.” ⁵ And King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your ^[c]hands; for the king ^(J)can do nothing against you.” ⁶ So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the ^(K)cistern of Malchijah the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guardhouse; and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. Now in the cistern there was no water but only ^(L)mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud. ⁷ But ^(M)Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a ^[d](N)eunuch, while he was in the king’s palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the cistern. Now the king was sitting at the ^(O)Gate of Benjamin; ⁸ and Ebed-melech went out from the king’s palace and spoke to the king, saying, ⁹ “My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet whom they have thrown into the cistern; and he will die right where he is because of the famine, for there is ^(P)no more bread in the city.” ¹⁰ Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take thirty men from here ^[e]under your authority and bring Jeremiah the prophet up from the cistern before he dies.” ¹¹ So Ebed-melech took the men under his ^[f]authority 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. ¹² Then 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. ¹³ So they pulled Jeremiah out with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern, and Jeremiah stayed in the ^(Q)courtyard of the guardhouse.

Zedekiah Seeks an Answer from God

¹⁴ Then King Zedekiah ^(R)sent word and ^[g]had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance that is in the house of the Lord; and the king said to Jeremiah, “I am going to ^(S)ask you something; do not hide anything from me.” ¹⁵ And Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “^(T)If I tell you, will you not certainly put me to death? Besides, if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.” ¹⁶ But King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in ^(U)secret, saying, “As the Lord lives, who made this ^[h](V)life for us, I certainly will not put you to death, nor will I hand you over to ^(W)these men who are seeking your ^[i]life.”

¹⁷ So Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord ^(X)God of armies, the ^(Y)God of Israel says: ‘If you will indeed ^(Z)surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then ^[j]you will live, this city will not be burned with fire, and you and your household will ^[k]survive. ¹⁸ But if you do ^(AA)not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city ^(AB)will be handed over to the Chaldeans; and they will burn it with fire, and ^(AC)you yourself will not escape from their hands.’” ¹⁹ Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am ^(AD)in fear of the Jews who have ^(AE)deserted to the Chaldeans, for they may hand me over to them, and they will ^(AF)abuse me.” ²⁰ But Jeremiah said, “They will not turn you over. Please ^[l](AG)obey the Lord in what I am saying to you, so that it may go ^(AH)well for you and ^[m](AI)you may live. ²¹ But if you keep refusing to surrender, this is the word which the Lord has shown me: ²² ‘Behold, all of the ^(AJ)women who have been left in the palace of the king of Judah are going to be brought out to the officers of the king of Babylon; and those women will say,

“^[n]Your close friends
Have misled and overpowered you;
While your feet were sunk in the mire,
They turned back.”

²³ They are also going to bring out all your wives and your ^(AK)sons to the Chaldeans, and ^(AL)you yourself will not escape from their hand, but will be seized by the hand of the king of Babylon, and ^(AM)this city will be burned with fire.’”

²⁴ Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know about these words, and you will not die. ²⁵ But if the ^(AN)officials hear that I have talked with you and come to you and say to you, ‘Tell us now what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us and we will not put you to death,’ ²⁶ then you are to say to them, ‘I was ^(AO)presenting my plea before the king, not to make me return to the house of Jonathan to die there.’” ²⁷ Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him. So he reported to them in accordance with all these words which the king had commanded; and they stopped speaking with him, since the ^[o]conversation had not been overheard. ²⁸ So Jeremiah ^(AP)stayed in the courtyard of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was captured.

Footnotes

1. Jeremiah 38:4 Lit making slack the hands of
2. Jeremiah 38:4 Lit the hands of all
3. Jeremiah 38:5 Lit hand
4. Jeremiah 38:7 Or high official
5. Jeremiah 38:10 Lit in your hand
6. Jeremiah 38:11 Lit hand
7. Jeremiah 38:14 Lit took Jeremiah the prophet to him
8. Jeremiah 38:16 Lit soul
9. Jeremiah 38:16 Lit soul
10. Jeremiah 38:17 Lit your soul
11. Jeremiah 38:17 Lit live
12. Jeremiah 38:20 Lit listen to the voice of
13. Jeremiah 38:20 Lit your soul
14. Jeremiah 38:22 Lit The men of your peace
15. Jeremiah 38:27 Lit word

Cross references

1. Jeremiah 38:1 : Jer 37:3
2. Jeremiah 38:1 : Jer 21:1
3. Jeremiah 38:2 : Jer 21:9
4. Jeremiah 38:2 : Jer 34:17; 42:17
5. Jeremiah 38:2 : Jer 21:9; 39:18; 45:5
6. Jeremiah 38:3 : Jer 21:10; 32:3-5
7. Jeremiah 38:4 : Jer 18:23; 26:11, 21; 36:12
8. Jeremiah 38:4 : Ex 5:4; 1 Kin 18:17, 18; 21:20; Neh 6:9; Amos 7:10; Acts 16:20
9. Jeremiah 38:4 : Jer 29:7
10. Jeremiah 38:5 : 2 Sam 3:39
11. Jeremiah 38:6 : Jer 37:16, 21; Acts 16:24
12. Jeremiah 38:6 : Ps 40:2; 69:2, 14, 15; Jer 38:22; Zech 9:11
13. Jeremiah 38:7 : Jer 39:16
14. Jeremiah 38:7 : Jer 29:2; Acts 8:27
15. Jeremiah 38:7 : Deut 21:19; Job 29:7; Jer 37:13; Amos 5:10
16. Jeremiah 38:9 : Jer 37:21; 52:6
17. Jeremiah 38:13 : Neh 3:25; Jer 32:2; 37:21; 38:6; 39:14, 15; Acts 23:35; 24:27; 28:16, 30
18. Jeremiah 38:14 : Jer 21:1, 2; 37:17
19. Jeremiah 38:14 : 1 Sam 3:17, 18; 1 Kin 22:16; Jer 15:11; 42:2-5, 20
20. Jeremiah 38:15 : Luke 22:67, 68
21. Jeremiah 38:16 : Jer 37:17; John 3:2
22. Jeremiah 38:16 : Num 16:22; 27:16; Is 42:5; 57:16; Zech 12:1; Acts 17:25, 28
23. Jeremiah 38:16 : Jer 34:20; 38:4-6
24. Jeremiah 38:17 : Ps 80:7, 14; Amos 5:27
25. Jeremiah 38:17 : 1 Chr 17:24; Ezek 8:4
26. Jeremiah 38:17 : 2 Kin 24:12; 25:27-30; Jer 21:8-10; 27:12, 17; 38:2; 39:3
27. Jeremiah 38:18 : Jer 27:8
28. Jeremiah 38:18 : 2 Kin 25:4-10; Jer 24:8-10; 32:3-5; 37:8; 38:3
29. Jeremiah 38:18 : Jer 32:4; 34:3
30. Jeremiah 38:19 : Is 51:12, 13; 57:11; John 12:42; 19:12, 13
31. Jeremiah 38:19 : Jer 39:9
32. Jeremiah 38:19 : 2 Chr 30:10; Neh 4:1; Jer 38:22
33. Jeremiah 38:20 : 2 Chr 20:20; Jer 11:4, 8; 26:13; Dan 4:27; Acts 26:29
34. Jeremiah 38:20 : Jer 7:23
35. Jeremiah 38:20 : Gen 19:20; Is 55:3
36. Jeremiah 38:22 : Jer 6:12; 8:10; 43:6
37. Jeremiah 38:23 : 2 Kin 25:7; Jer 39:6; 41:10
38. Jeremiah 38:23 : Jer 38:18
39. Jeremiah 38:23 : Jer 38:18
40. Jeremiah 38:25 : Jer 38:4-6, 27
41. Jeremiah 38:26 : Jer 37:20
42. Jeremiah 38:28 : Ps 23:4; Jer 15:20, 21; 37:20, 21; 38:13; 39:13, 14