Jeremiah 38 — Septuagint (LXX)

Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard the words that Jeremiah was speaking to all the people:

This is what the LORD says: Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, by famine, or by plague. But whoever goes out to the Chaldeans will live — his life will be his plunder, and he will survive.

This is what the LORD says: This city will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.

The officials said to the king, "Let this man be put to death, because he is weakening the resolve of the soldiers who remain in this city and the resolve of all the people by speaking these words to them. This man does not seek the welfare of this people but their ruin."

King Zedekiah answered, "He is in your hands. The king can do nothing to oppose you."

They took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Malkijah, a son of the king, which was in the court of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah down with ropes. There was no water in the cistern — only mud. And Jeremiah sank into the mud.

When Ebed-Melech the Cushite, a court official in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern — the king was sitting at the Benjamin Gate at the time —

Ebed-Melech left the royal palace and spoke to the king:

"My lord the king, these men have done a terrible thing in all they have done to the prophet Jeremiah. They have thrown him into the cistern, and he will die there from starvation, for there is no more bread in the city."

Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the Cushite, "Take thirty men from here under your authority and pull the prophet Jeremiah up out of the cistern before he dies."

Ebed-Melech took the men under his command and went into the royal palace, to a storeroom beneath the treasury. From there he took worn-out rags and tattered scraps of cloth, and lowered them down to Jeremiah in the cistern by ropes.

Ebed-Melech the Cushite called down to Jeremiah, "Put the worn rags and scraps of cloth under your arms, beneath the ropes." And Jeremiah did so.

They pulled Jeremiah up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

King Zedekiah sent for the prophet Jeremiah and had him brought to the third entrance of the house of the LORD. The king said to Jeremiah, "I am going to ask you something. Do not hide anything from me."

Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I tell you, will you not certainly put me to death? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me."

King Zedekiah swore secretly to Jeremiah, "As the LORD lives — the one who gave us this life — I will not put you to death, and I will not hand you over to those men who are seeking your life."

Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "This is what the LORD, the God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: If you will go out and surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, you will live. This city will not be burned with fire, and you and your household will survive.

But if you do not go out to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be handed over to the Chaldeans. They will burn it with fire, and you yourself will not escape from their hands."

King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Chaldeans — they might hand me over to them, and they will abuse me."

Jeremiah answered, "They will not hand you over. Please listen to the voice of the LORD in what I am telling you, and it will go well for you, and you will live.

But if you refuse to go out, this is what the LORD has shown me:

All the women remaining in the palace of the king of Judah will be led out to the officers of the king of Babylon, and those women will say: 'Your trusted friends misled you and overpowered you. Your feet are sunk in the mud — they have turned their backs on you.'

All your wives and children will be led out to the Chaldeans. You yourself will not escape from their grasp but will be seized by the king of Babylon. And this city will be burned with fire."

Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "Let no one know about this conversation, and you will not die.

If the officials hear that I have spoken with you and they come to you and say, 'Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you — do not hide it from us, and we will not kill you' —

then say to them, 'I was presenting my plea to the king, asking him not to send me back to Jonathan's house to die there.'"

All the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him. He told them exactly what the king had commanded him to say. They stopped pressing him, because the conversation had not been overheard.

Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured. He was still there when Jerusalem fell.