Jeremiah 38:10

THE MESSAGE

So the king ordered Ebed-melek the Ethiopian, "Get three men and pull Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies."

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
So the king commanded Ebed-melech, the Cushite, “Take from here thirty men under your authority and pull the prophet Jeremiah up from the cistern before he dies.”

Hebrew Names Version
Then the king commanded `Eved-Melekh the Kushite, saying, Take from hence thirty men with you, and take up Yirmeyahu the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die.

King James Version
Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die.

English Standard Version
Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, "Take thirty men with you from here, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies."

New American Standard Bible
Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, "Take thirty men from here under your authority and bring Jeremiah the prophet up from the cistern before he dies."

New Century Version
Then King Zedekiah commanded Ebed-Melech the Cushite, "Take thirty men from the palace and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the well before he dies."

Amplified Bible
Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, "Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies."

World English Bible
Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with you, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then the King commaunded Ebed-melech the blacke More, saying, Take from hence thirtie men with thee, and take Ieremiah the Prophet out of the dungeon before he dye.

Legacy Standard Bible
Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, "Take in your hand thirty men from here and bring up Jeremiah the prophet from the cistern before he dies."

Berean Standard Bible
So the king commanded Ebed-melech the Cushite, "Take thirty men from here with you and pull Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies."

Contemporary English Version
Zedekiah answered, "Take thirty of my soldiers and pull Jeremiah out before he dies."

Complete Jewish Bible
Then the king ordered ‘Eved-Melekh the Ethiopian, "Take thirty men with you from here, and bring Yirmeyahu the prophet up out of the cistern before he dies."

Darby Translation
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.

Easy-to-Read Version
Then King Zedekiah gave a command to Ebed Melech, the Ethiopian. This was the command: "Ebed Melech, take three men from the palace with you, and go get Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies."

George Lamsa Translation
Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from here thirty men with you, and go and draw up Jeremiah out of the well before he dies.

Good News Translation
Then the king ordered Ebedmelech to take with him three men and to pull me out of the well before I died.

Lexham English Bible
Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Cushite, saying, "Take with you these thirty men and pull Jeremiah the prophet up from the pit before he dies."

Literal Translation
And the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take in your hand thirty men from here and bring up Jeremiah the prophet out of the pit before he dies.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The the kynge commauded Abdemelech the Morian, and sayde: Take from hece xxx. men whom thou wilt, & drawe vp Ieremy the prophet out of the dongeon, before he dye.

American Standard Version
Then 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.

Bible in Basic English
Then the king gave orders to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take with you three men from here and get Jeremiah out of the water-hole before death overtakes him.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying: 'Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the pit, before he die.'

King James Version (1611)
Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirtie men with thee, and take vp Ieremiah the Prophet out of the dungeon before he die.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Then the kyng commaunded Abedmelech the Morian, and sayde, Take from hence thirtie men whom thou wylt, and drawe vp Ieremie the prophete out of the dungeon before he dye.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Hear the words of the Lord, ye nations, and proclaim them to the islands afar off; say, He that scattered Israel will also gather him, and keep him as one that feeds his flock.

English Revised Version
Then 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.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Therfor the kyng comaundide to Abdemelech Ethiopien, and seide, Take with thee thretti men fro hennus, and reise thou Jeremye, the profete, fro the lake, bifor that he die.

Update Bible Version
Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from here thirty men with you, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he dies.

Webster's Bible Translation
Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Cushite, saying, Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he dieth.

New English Translation
Then the king gave Ebed Melech the Ethiopian the following order: "Take thirty men with you from here and go pull the prophet Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies."

New King James Version
Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying, "Take from here thirty men with you, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he dies."

New Living Translation
So the king told Ebed-melech, "Take thirty of my men with you, and pull Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies."

New Life Bible
Then the king told Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, "I am giving you the power to take thirty men with you, and bring Jeremiah the man of God up from the well before he dies."

New Revised Standard
Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, "Take three men with you from here, and pull the prophet Jeremiah up from the cistern before he dies."

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian saying, - Take with thee from hence thirty men, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he die.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Then the king commanded Abdemelech the Ethiopian, saying: Take from hence thirty men with thee, and draw up Jeremias the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die.

Revised Standard Version
Then the king commanded E'bed-mel'ech, the Ethiopian, "Take three men with you from here, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies."

Young's Literal Translation
And the king commandeth Ebed-Melech the Cushite, saying, `Take with thee from this thirty men, and thou hast brought up Jeremiah the prophet from the pit, before he dieth.'

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, "Take thirty men from here under your authority and bring up Jeremiah the prophet from the cistern before he dies."

Contextual Overview

¹ Shaphatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah was telling the people, namely: ² "This is God 's Message: ‘Whoever stays in this town will die—will be killed or starve to death or get sick and die. But those who go over to the Babylonians will save their necks and live.' ³ "And, God 's sure Word: ‘This city is destined to fall to the army of the king of Babylon. He's going to take it over.'" ⁴ These officials told the king, "Please, kill this man. He's got to go! He's ruining the resolve of the soldiers who are still left in the city, as well as the people themselves, by spreading these words. This man isn't looking after the good of this people. He's trying to ruin us!" ⁵ King Zedekiah caved in: "If you say so. Go ahead, handle it your way. You're too much for me." ⁶ So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Malkijah the king's son that was in the courtyard of the palace guard. They lowered him down with ropes. There wasn't any water in the cistern, only mud. Jeremiah sank into the mud. ⁷Ebed-melek the Ethiopian, a court official assigned to the royal palace, heard that they had thrown Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was holding court in the Benjamin Gate, Ebed-melek went immediately from the palace to the king and said, "My master, O king—these men are committing a great crime in what they're doing, throwing Jeremiah the prophet into the cistern and leaving him there to starve. He's as good as dead. There isn't a scrap of bread left in the city." ¹⁰ So the king ordered Ebed-melek the Ethiopian, "Get three men and pull Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies." ¹¹Ebed-melek got three men and went to the palace wardrobe and got some scraps of old clothing, which they tied together and lowered down with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. Ebed-melek the Ethiopian called down to Jeremiah, "Put these scraps of old clothing under your armpits and around the ropes." Jeremiah did what he said. ¹³ And so they pulled Jeremiah up out of the cistern by the ropes. But he was still confined in the courtyard of the palace guard.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the king: Esther 5:2, Esther 8:7, Psalms 75:10, Proverbs 21:1

with thee: Heb. in thine hand

Reciprocal: Jeremiah 37:13 - Hananiah Jeremiah 37:16 - into the dungeon

Cross-References

Genesis 46:12
Judah's sons: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (Er and Onan had already died in the land of Canaan). The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.

Numbers 11:1
The people fell to grumbling over their hard life. God heard. When he heard his anger flared; then fire blazed up and burned the outer boundaries of the camp. The people cried out for help to Moses; Moses prayed to God and the fire died down. They named the place Taberah (Blaze) because fire from God had blazed up against them.

Numbers 22:34
Balaam said to God 's angel, "I have sinned. I had no idea you were standing in the road blocking my way. If you don't like what I'm doing, I'll head back."

Numbers 26:19
Er and Onan were sons of Judah who died early on in Canaan. The sons of Judah by clans: Shelah and the Shelanite clan, Perez and the Perezite clan, Zerah and the Zerahite clan. The sons of Perez: Hezron and the Hezronite clan, Hamul and the Hamulite clan. These were the clans of Judah. They numbered 76,500.

Proverbs 14:32
The evil of bad people leaves them out in the cold; the integrity of good people creates a safe place for living.

Haggai 1:13
Then Haggai, God 's messenger, preached God 's Message to the people: "I am with you!" God 's Word.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian,.... Being affected with the case of the prophet; and repenting of the leave he had given the princes to do with him as they pleased, gave orders as follows:

saying, take from hence thirty men with thee; from the place where the king was, the gate of Benjamin; where very probably at this time was a garrison of soldiers, thirty of which were ordered to be taken; or these were to be taken out of the king's bodyguard, he had here with him. Josephus w calls them thirty of the king's servants, such as were about the king's person, or belonged to his household; and so the Syriac version of Jeremiah 38:11 says that Ebedmelech took with him men of the king's household; but why thirty of them, when three or four might be thought sufficient to take up a single man out of a dungeon? Abarbinel thinks the dungeon was very deep, and Jeremiah, ah old man, could not be got out but with great labour and difficulty. Jarchi and Kimchi say, the men were so weakened with the famine, that so many were necessary to draw out one man; but the true reason seems rather to be, that should the princes, whom the king might suspect, or any other, attempt to hinder this order being put in execution, there might be a sufficient force to assist in it, and repel those that might oppose it:

and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he die; the king speaks honourably of Jeremiah, giving him his title as a prophet, and expresses great concern for him; and orders them to hasten the taking him up, lest he should die before, which he suggests would give him great concern.

w Antiqu. l. 10. c. 7. sect. 5.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Thirty men - So large a number suggests that Zedekiah expected some resistance. (Some read “three” men.)

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 38:10. Take from hence thirty men — The king was determined that he should be rescued by force, if the princes opposed.