Isaiæ 38:6

Jerome's Latin Vulgate

Tulerunt ergo Jeremiam, et projecerunt eum in lacum Melchiæ filii Amelech, qui erat in vestibulo carceris: et submiserunt Jeremiam funibus in lacum, in quo non erat aqua, sed lutum: descendit itaque Jeremias in cœnum.

Parallel Translations

Clementine Latin Vulgate (1592)
et de manu regis Assyriorum eruam te, et civitatem istam, et protegam eam.

Nova Vulgata (1979)
Tulerunt ergo Ieremiam et proiecerunt eum in lacum Melchiae filii regis, qui erat in vestibulo custodiae. Et submiserunt Ieremiam funibus. Et in lacu non erat aqua sed lutum; descendit itaque Ieremias in caenum.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

took: Jeremiah 37:21, Psalms 109:5, Luke 3:19, Luke 3:20

into: Jeremiah 37:16, Lamentations 3:55, Acts 16:24, 2 Corinthians 4:8, 2 Corinthians 4:9, Hebrews 10:36

Hammelech: or, the king, Jeremiah 36:26

and they: Jeremiah 38:11, Jeremiah 38:12

And in: This dungeon, which seems to have belonged to one of Zedekiah's sons, appears to have been a most dreadful place; the horrors of which were probably augmented by the cruelty of the jailor. "The eastern people," observes Sir J. Chardin, "have not different prisons for the different classes of criminals; the judges do not trouble themselves about where the prisoners are confined, or how they are treated, considering it merely as a place of safety; and all that they require of the jailor is, that the prisoner be forthcoming when called for. As to the rest, he is master to do as he pleases; to treat him well or ill; to put him in irons or not; to shut him up close, or hold him in easier restraint; to admit people to him, or to suffer nobody to see him. If the jailor and his servants have large fees, let the person be the greatest rascal in the world, he shall be lodged in the jailor's own apartment, and the best part of it; and on the contrary, if those that have imprisoned a man give the jailor greater presents, or that he has a greater regard for them, he will treat the prisoner with the greatest inhumanity." This adds a double energy to those passages which speak of "the sighing of the prisoner," and to Jeremiah's supplicating that he might not be remanded to the dungeon of Jonathan - Jeremiah 38:26, Jeremiah 37:20. Jeremiah 38:22, Genesis 37:24, Psalms 40:2, Psalms 69:2, Psalms 69:14, Psalms 69:15, Lamentations 3:52-55, Zechariah 9:11

Reciprocal: Exodus 12:29 - dungeon Exodus 23:2 - to decline 1 Kings 22:27 - Put this fellow 2 Chronicles 18:25 - and carry him back 2 Chronicles 36:16 - misused Job 30:19 - cast me Isaiah 24:22 - shall they Isaiah 51:14 - die Jeremiah 1:19 - And they Jeremiah 20:2 - smote Jeremiah 29:26 - that thou Jeremiah 32:2 - Jeremiah Jeremiah 36:5 - General Jeremiah 37:15 - in the Jeremiah 38:13 - So Lamentations 3:1 - the man Lamentations 3:7 - hedged Lamentations 3:53 - cut Daniel 3:23 - fell Luke 4:28 - were 2 Corinthians 6:5 - imprisonments Hebrews 11:36 - bonds

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then took they Jeremiah,.... Having the king's leave, or at least no prohibition from him; they went with proper attendants to the court of the prison, and took the prophet from thence:

and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that [was] in the court of the prison; this was a dungeon that belonged to the prison which Malchiah had the care of, or which belonged to his house, which was contiguous to the court of the prison. The Targum renders it, Malchiah the son of the king; and so the Septuagint and Arabic versions; but it is not likely that Zedekiah should have a son that was set over his dungeon, or to whom one belonged, or should be called by his name: here the princes cast the prophet, in order that he should perish, either with famine or suffocation, or the noisomeness of the place; not caring with their own hands to take away the life of a prophet, and for fear of the people; and this being a more slow and private way of dispatching him, they chose it; for they designed no doubt nothing less than death:

and they let down Jeremiah with cords; there being no steps or stairs to go down into it; so that nobody could come to him when in it, or relieve him:

and in the dungeon [there was] no water, but mire; so Jeremiah sunk in the mire; up to the neck, as Josephus q says. Some think that it was at this time, and in this place, that Jeremiah put up the petitions to the Lord, and which he heard, recorded in Lamentations 3:55; and that that whole chapter was composed by him in this time of his distress.

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

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The dungeon - The cistern. Every house in Jerusalem was supplied with a subterranean cistern, so well constructed that the city never suffered in a siege from want of water. So large were they that when dry they seem to have been used for prisons Zechariah 9:11.

Hammelech - See Jeremiah 36:26 note.

The prison - The guard. They threw Jeremiah into the nearest cistern, intending that he should die of starvation. Some have thought that Psalms 69:0 was composed by Jeremiah when in this cistern.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 38:6. So Jeremiah sunk in the mire. — Their obvious design was, that he might be stifled in that place.