Jeremiah 38:1

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹Now Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchijah heard the words Jeremiah was telling all the people:²"This is what the LORD says: Whoever stays in this city will die by sword, famine, and plague, but whoever surrenders to the Chaldeans will live. He will escape with his life as a reward and will live. ³This is what the LORD says: This city will surely be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it." ⁴Then the officials said to the king, "This man ought to die, for he is discouraging the warriors who remain in this city, as well as all the people, by speaking such words to them; this man is not seeking the well-being of these people, but their ruin." ⁵"Here he is," replied King Zedekiah. "He is in your hands, since the king can do nothing to stop you." ⁶So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king's son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah with ropes into the cistern, which had no water but only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud. ⁷Now Ebed-melech the Cushite, a court official in the royal palace, heard that Jeremiah had been put into the cistern. While the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin, ⁸Ebed-melech went out from the king's palace and said to the king, ⁹"My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have dropped him into the cistern, where he will starve to death, for there is no more bread in the city." ¹⁰So 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."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Shephatiah: Ezra 2:3, Nehemiah 7:9

Jucal: Jeremiah 37:4, Jehucal

Pashur: Jeremiah 21:1-10, Melchiah, 1 Chronicles 9:12, Malchijah, Nehemiah 11:12

heard: Acts 4:1, Acts 4:2, Acts 4:6-10, Acts 5:28

Reciprocal: 1 Chronicles 6:40 - Baaseiah Jeremiah 11:21 - thou Jeremiah 25:2 - General Jeremiah 36:16 - We Jeremiah 37:13 - Hananiah Jeremiah 38:9 - these Jeremiah 38:16 - of these Jeremiah 39:17 - of whom

Cross-References

Genesis 38:2
There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua, and he took her as a wife and slept with her.

Genesis 38:3
So she conceived and gave birth to a son, and Judah named him Er.

Joshua 12:15
the king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one;

Joshua 15:35
Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah,

Judges 4:18
Jael went out to greet Sisera and said to him, "Come in, my lord. Come in with me. Do not be afraid." So he went into her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.

1 Samuel 22:1
So David left Gath and took refuge in the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of his father's household heard about it, they went down to him there.

2 Samuel 23:13
At harvest time, three of the thirty chief men went down to David at the cave of Adullam, while a company of Philistines was encamped in the Valley of Rephaim.

2 Kings 4:8
One day Elisha went to Shunem, and a prominent woman who lived there persuaded him to have a meal. So whenever he would pass by, he would stop there to eat.

Proverbs 9:6
Leave your folly behind, and you will live; walk in the way of understanding."

Proverbs 13:20
He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashur,.... Of these two persons we nowhere else read. Some think that Pashur, whose son Gedaliah was, is the same as is mentioned

Jeremiah 20:1; which is not likely, since he was a priest, and this son a prince:

and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of Malchiah; these had been sent by the king to Jeremiah, to inquire of the Lord, and to pray for him and his people, Jeremiah 21:1; all four were princes, prime ministers of state, of great power and authority, and to whom the king could deny nothing, or withstand, Jeremiah 38:4; these

heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people; that is, to as many of them as came to the court of the prison to visit him; some out of good will, and some out of ill will; and others out of curiosity; being desirous to know by the prophet how things would go with them; and by which means what he said was spread all over the city, and came to the ears of the above princes; and no doubt there were persons enough officious enough to carry these things to them:

saying; as follows:

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Had spoken - Spake; or, was speaking.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER XXXVIII

The princes of Judah, taking offense at Jeremiah on account of

his predicting the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple by

the Chaldeans, cause him to be cast into a deep and miry

dungeon, 1-6.

Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian, gets the king's permission to take

him out, 7-13.

Jeremiah advises the king, who consulted him privately, to

surrender to the Chaldeans, 14-23.

The king promises the prophet that he will not put him to

death, and requires him not to reveal what had passed to the

princes; to whom he accordingly gives an evasive answer,

telling them only so much of the conference as related to his

request for his life, 24-28.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXXVIII

Verse Jeremiah 38:1. Then Shephatiah — This was the faction - what Dahler terms the Antitheocratic faction - who were enemies to Jeremiah, and sought his life.