17Then King Zedekiah sent for him, and the king questioned him secretly in his palace. He asked, “Is there any word from the LORD?” “There is!” Jeremiah answered, and he continued, “You will be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.” 18And Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “What wrong have I done to you, to your courtiers, and to this people, that you have put me in jail? 19And where are those prophets of yours who prophesied to you that the king of Babylon would never move against you and against this land? 20Now, please hear me, O lord king, and grant my plea: Don’t send me back to the house of the scribe Jonathan bto die there.”-b
21So King Zedekiah gave instructions to lodge Jeremiah in the prison compound and to supply him daily with a loaf of bread from the Bakers’ Street—until all the bread in the city was gone. Jeremiah remained in the prison compound.
38 Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchiah heard what Jeremiah was saying to all the people: 2“Thus said the LORD: Whoever remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but whoever surrenders to the Chaldeans shall live; a-he shall at least gain his life-a and shall live. 3Thus said the LORD: This city shall be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon’s army, and he shall capture it.”
4Then the officials said to the king, “Let that man be put to death, for he disheartensb the soldiers, and all the people who are left in this city, by speaking such things to them. That man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm!” 5King Zedekiah replied, “He is in your hands; the king cannot oppose you in anything!”
6So they took Jeremiah and put him down in the pit of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the prison compound; they let Jeremiah down by ropes. There was no water in the pit, only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.
7Ebed-melech the Cushite, a eunuch who was in the king’s palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the pit. The king was then sitting at the Benjamin Gate; 8so Ebed-melech left the king’s palace, and spoke to the king: 9“O lord king, those men have acted wickedly in all they did to the prophet Jeremiah; they have put him down in the pit, to die there of hunger.” For there was no more bread in the city.
10Then the king instructed Ebed-melech the Cushite, “Take with you thirtyc men from here, and pull the prophet Jeremiah up from the pit before he dies.” 11So Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went to the king’s palace, to d-a place below-d the treasury. There they got worn cloths and rags, which they let down to Jeremiah in the pit by ropes.
12And Ebed-melech the Cushite called to Jeremiah, “Put the worn cloths and rags under your armpits, inside the ropes.” Jeremiah did so, 13and they pulled Jeremiah up by the ropes and got him out of the pit. And Jeremiah remained in the prison compound.
14King Zedekiah sent for the prophet Jeremiah, and had him brought to him at the third entrance of the House of the LORD. And the king said to Jeremiah, “I want to ask you something; don’t conceal anything from me.”
15Jeremiah answered the king, “If I tell you, you’ll surely kill me; and if I give you advice, you won’t listen to me.”
16Thereupon King Zedekiah secretly promised Jeremiah on oath: “As the LORD lives who has e-given us this life,-e I will not put you to death or leave you in the hands of those men who seek your life.”
17Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus said the LORD, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel: If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned down. You and your household will live. 18But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans, who will burn it down; and you will not escape from them.”
19King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am worried about the Judeans who have defected to the Chaldeans; that they [the Chaldeans] might hand me over to them to abuse me.”
20“They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Listen to the voice of the LORD, to what I tell you, that it may go well with you and your life be spared. 21For this is what the LORD has shown me if you refuse to surrender: 22All the women who are left in the palace of the king of Judah shall be brought out to the officers of the king of Babylon; and they shall say:
The men who were your friends
Have seduced you and vanquished you.
Now that your feet are sunk in the mire,
They have turned their backs [on you].
23They will bring out all your wives and children to the Chaldeans, and you yourself will not escape from them. You will be captured by the king of Babylon, and f-this city shall be burned down.”-f
24Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Don’t let anyone know about this conversation, g-or you will die.-g 25If the officials should hear that I have spoken with you, and they should come and say to you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king; hide nothing from us, h-or we’ll kill you.-h And what did the king say to you?’ 26say to them, ‘I was presenting my petition to the king not to send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.’ ”
27All the officials did come to Jeremiah to question him; and he replied to them just as the king had instructed him. So they stopped questioning him, for the conversation had not been overheard. 28Jeremiah remained in the prison compound until the day Jerusalem was captured.
When Jerusalem was captured …i
39In the ninth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, in the tenth month, King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon moved against Jerusalem with his whole army, and they laid siege to it. 2And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, on the ninth day of the fourth month, the [walls of] the city were breached. 3All the officers of the king of Babylon entered, and took up quarters at the middle gate—Nergal-sarezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim the Rab-saris,a Nergal-sarezer the Rab-mag,a and all the rest of the officers of the king of Babylon.
4When King Zedekiah of Judah saw them, he and all the soldiers fled. They left the city at night, by way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the double walls; and he set out toward the Arabah.b 5But the Chaldean troops pursued them, and they overtook Zedekiah in the steppes of Jericho. They captured him and brought him before King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon at Riblah in the region of Hamath; and he put him on trial. 6The king of Babylon had Zedekiah’s children slaughtered at Riblah before his eyes; the king of Babylon had all the nobles of Judah slaughtered. 7Then the eyes of Zedekiah were put out and he was chained in bronze fetters, that he might be brought to Babylon.
8The Chaldeans burned down the king’s palace and the housesc of the people by fire, and they tore down the walls of Jerusalem. 9The remnant of the people that was left in the city, and the defectors who had gone over to him—the remnant of the people that was left—were exiled by Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guards, to Babylon. 10But some of the poorest people who owned nothing were left in the land of Judah by Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guards, and he gave them vineyards and fields at that time.
11King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon had given orders to Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guards, concerning Jeremiah: 12“Take him and look after him; do him no harm, but grant whatever he asks of you.” 13So Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guards, and Nebushazban the Rab-saris, and Nergal-sarezer the Rab-mag, and all the commanders of the king of Babylon sent 14and had Jeremiah brought from the prison compound. They committed him to the care of Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan, d-that he might be left at liberty in a house.-d So he dwelt among the people.
15The word of the LORD had come to Jeremiah while he was still confined in the prison compound: 16Go and say to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian: “Thus said the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: I am going to fulfill My words concerning this city—for disaster, not for good—and they shall come true on that day in your presence. 17But I will save you on that day—declares the LORD;
