Jeremiah 38

1 And Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of Malchijah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken unto all the people, saying,

Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchijah heard what Jeremiah was telling everyone:

2 Thus saith Jehovah: He that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; and he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live.

This is what the Lord says: Anyone who remains in this city will die from war and famine and disease, but anyone who goes over to the Babylonians will live. Their reward will be to save their lives.

3 Thus saith Jehovah: This city shall certainly be given into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, and he shall take it.

This is what the Lord says: Be sure of this—Jerusalem will be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon. He is going to capture it.

4 And the princes said unto the king, Let this man, we pray thee, be put to death; for why should he weaken the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking to them according to these words? for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.

The officers told the king, “This man deserves to die because he's demoralizing the defenders left in the city, and all the people too, by telling them this. This man isn't trying to help these people, he's only going to destroy them.”

5 And king Zedekiah said, Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he that can do a thing against you.

“Well, you can do whatever you want to him,” King Zedekiah replied. “I can't stop you.”

6 Then they took Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchijah the son of Hammelech, which was in the court of the guard, and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire; and Jeremiah sank in the mire.

So they took Jeremiah and put him in the cistern belonging to Malchiah, the king's son, which was in the guard's courtyard. They lowered Jeremiah down with ropes into the cistern. It didn't have any water, only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.

7 And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon — now the king was sitting in the gate of Benjamin,

Ebed-melech the Cushite, a royal official in the king's palace, found out that they had put Jeremiah in the cistern. The king was sitting at the Benjamin Gate,

8 — and Ebed-melech went forth out of the king's house, and spoke to the king, saying,

so Ebed-melech left the palace and went to talk to the king

9 My lord, O king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to the prophet Jeremiah, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he will die by reason of the famine in the place where he is; for there is no more bread in the city.

“My lord the king, all these terrible things these men have done to Jeremiah the prophet are evil. They've put him in the cistern, and he'll starve to death there because there's no more bread left in the city.”

10 And the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die.

So the king gave the order to Ebed-melech the Cushite, “Take thirty men with you and go and pull Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”

11 And Ebed-melech took the men under his order, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took thence old shreds and worn-out clothes, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.

Ebed-melech took the men and went to the storehouse under the palace. He took some rags and old clothes from there and then went to the cistern where he lowered them with ropes to Jeremiah.

12 And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, Put, I pray, [these] old shreds and rags under thine armholes under the cords. And Jeremiah did so.

Ebed-melech the Cushite called down to Jeremiah, “Put these rags and old clothes under your arms to protect you from the ropes.” Jeremiah did so,

13 And they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and brought him up out of the dungeon; and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

and using the ropes they pulled him up and took him out of the cistern. Jeremiah stayed there in the guard's courtyard.

14 And king Zedekiah sent and took the prophet Jeremiah unto him, into the third entry that is in the house of Jehovah; and the king said unto Jeremiah, I will ask thee a thing: hide nothing from me.

Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and met him at the third Temple entrance. “I need to ask you something,” the king told Jeremiah. “You mustn't hide anything from me.”

15 And Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, If I declare [it] unto thee, wilt thou not certainly put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, thou wilt not hearken unto me.

“If I tell you then you'll definitely have me killed,” Jeremiah replied. “Even if I were to give you advice, you wouldn't listen to me anyway.”

16 And king Zedekiah swore secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, [As] Jehovah liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life.

King Zedekiah solemnly promised Jeremiah in private, “As the Lord lives, who gave us this life, I won't have you killed, and I won't hand you over to those who want to kill you.”

17 And Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, Thus saith Jehovah the God of hosts, the God of Israel: If thou wilt freely go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live, and thy house.

Then Jeremiah told Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you hand yourself over to the officers of the king of Babylon, then you'll live. Jerusalem won't be burned down, and you and your family will survive.

18 But if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand.

But if you don't hand yourself over to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city will be given to the Babylonians. They will burn it down, and you yourself won't escape being captured.”

19 And king Zedekiah said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest they give me over into their hand, and they mock me.

But King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the those people of Judah who have gone over to the Babylonians, because the Babylonians might hand me over the them so they could abuse me.”

20 And Jeremiah said, They shall not give [thee] over. Hearken, I beseech thee, unto the voice of Jehovah, in that which I speak unto thee; so shall it be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live.

“They won't hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “If you obey what the Lord says by doing what I tell you, then things will go well for you and you'll live.

21 But if thou refuse to go forth, this is the word which Jehovah hath shewn me:

But if you refuse to hand yourself over, this is what the Lord has told me:

22 Behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah's house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes; and they shall say, Thy familiar friends have set thee on, and have prevailed over thee; thy feet are sunk in the mire, they are turned away back.

All the women who are left in the palace of the king of Judah will be led out and handed over to the officials of the king of Babylon Those women will say: ‘Those good friends of yours! You were taken in by them and conquered by them. Your feet got stuck in the mid, so they abandoned you.’

23 And they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand; for thou shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon, and thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire.

All your wives and children will be handed over to the Chaldeans. And you yourself will not escape, for you will be captured by the king of Babylon, and Jerusalem will be burned down.”

24 And Zedekiah said unto Jeremiah, Let no man know of these words, and thou shalt not die.

Zedekiah warned Jeremiah, “Nobody can find out about this conversation, otherwise you'll die.

25 And if the princes hear that I have talked with thee, and they come unto thee, and say unto thee, Declare unto us now what thou hast said unto the king, hide it not from us, and we will not put thee to death; and what hath the king said unto thee?

If the officers find out that I've talked with you, and they come and ask you, ‘Tell us what you and the king were talking about! Don't hide anything from us, or we'll kill you;’

26 then thou shalt say unto them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan's house, to die there.

then you are to tell them, ‘I was asking the king to grant my request not to return me to the house of Jonathan to die there.’”

27 — And all the princes came to Jeremiah, and asked him; and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. And they withdrew quietly from him; for the matter was not reported.

When all the officers came to Jeremiah wanting to know, he repeated to them exactly what the king had told him to say. So they didn't ask him anything more because no one had heard what had been said.

28 And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.

Jeremiah remained there in the guard's courtyard until the day Jerusalem was captured.