Jeremiah 38

1 And Shephatiah son of Mattan, and Gedaliah son of Pashhur, and Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchiah, hear the words that Jeremiah is speaking to 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 said YHWH: He who is remaining in this city dies, by sword, by famine, and by pestilence, and he who is going forth to the Chaldeans lives, and his soul has been to him for a prey, and he lives.

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 said YHWH: This city is certainly given into the hand of the force of the king of Babylon, and he has captured 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 heads say to the king, “Now let this man be put to death, because that he is making feeble the hands of the men of war who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking to them according to these words, for this man is not seeking for the peace of this people, but for its calamity.”

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 says, “Behold, he [is] in your hand: for the king is not able [to do] anything against you.”

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

6 And they take Jeremiah, and cast him into the pit of Malchiah son of the king, that [is] in the court of the prison, and they send Jeremiah down with cords; and there is no water in the pit, but mire, and Jeremiah sinks 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 Cushite, a eunuch who [is] in the king’s house, hears that they have put Jeremiah into the pit; and the king is sitting at 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 goes forth from the king’s house, and speaks 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 Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the pit, and he dies in his place because of the famine, 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 commands Ebed-Melech the Cushite, saying, “Take with you thirty men from here, and you have brought up Jeremiah the prophet from the pit, before he dies.”

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 takes the men with him, and enters the house of the king, to the place of the treasury, and takes there worn-out shreds of cloth, and worn-out rags, and sends them by cords into the pit 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 Cushite says to Jeremiah, “Now put the worn-out pieces of cloth and rags under your arms, at the place of the cords,” and Jeremiah does 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 draw Jeremiah out with cords, and bring him up out of the pit, and Jeremiah dwells in the court of the prison.

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 sends, and takes Jeremiah the prophet to him, to the third entrance that [is] in the house of YHWH, and the king says to Jeremiah, “I am asking you something, do not hide anything 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 says to Zedekiah, “When I declare [it] to you, do you not surely put me to death? And when I counsel you, you do not listen to 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 swears to Jeremiah in secret, saying, “YHWH lives, He who made this soul for us, I do not put you to death, nor give you into the hand of these men who are seeking your soul.”

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 says to Zedekiah, “Thus said YHWH, God of Hosts, God of Israel: If you certainly go forth to the heads of the king of Babylon, then your soul has lived, and this city is not burned with fire, indeed, you have lived, you and your 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 And if you do not go forth to the heads of the king of Babylon, then this city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they have burned it with fire, and you do not escape from 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 says to Jeremiah, “I am fearing the Jews who have fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they give me into their hand, and they have insulted 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 says, “They do not give you up; please listen to the voice of YHWH, to that which I am speaking to you, and it is well for you, and your soul lives.

“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 And if you are refusing to go forth, this [is] the thing that YHWH has shown me:

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

22 That, behold, all the women who have been left in the house of the king of Judah are brought forth to the heads of the king of Babylon, and behold, they are saying: Persuaded you, and prevailed against you, Have your allies, Your feet have sunk into mire, They have been turned backward.

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 all your wives and your sons are brought forth to the Chaldeans, and you do not escape from their hand, for you are caught by the hand of the king of Babylon, and this city is 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 says to Jeremiah, “Let no man know of these words, and you do not die;

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

25 and when the heads hear that I have spoken with you, and they have come to you, and have said to you, Now declare to us what you spoke to the king, do not hide [it] from us, and we do not put you to death, and what the king spoke to you,

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 you have said to them, I am causing my supplication to fall before the king, not to cause me to return to the house of Jonathan, 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 heads come to Jeremiah, and ask him, and he declares to them according to all these words that the king commanded, and they keep silent from him, for the matter was not heard;

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 dwells in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem has been captured, and he was [there] when Jerusalem was captured.

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