Study Desk

Then the ^(C1)officials said to the king, "Please have this man put to death, since he is ^(F1)(C2)discouraging the men of war who are left in this city and ^(F2)all the people, by speaking words like these to them; for this man ^(C3)is not seeking the well-being of this people, but rather their harm."

And King Zedekiah said, "Behold, he is in your ^(F1)hands; for the king ^(C1)can do nothing against you."

So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the ^(C1)cistern of Malchijah the king's son, which was in the courtyard of the guardhouse; and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. Now in the cistern there was no water but only ^(C2)mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.

But ^(C1)Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a ^(F1)(C2)eunuch, while he was in the king's palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the cistern. Now the king was sitting at the ^(C3)Gate of Benjamin;

and Ebed-melech went out from the king's palace and spoke to the king, saying,

"My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet whom they have thrown into the cistern; and he will die right where he is because of the famine, for there is ^(C1)no more bread in the city."

Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, "Take thirty men from here ^(F1)under your authority and bring Jeremiah the prophet up from the cistern before he dies."

So Ebed-melech took the men under his ^(F1)authority and went into the king's palace to a place beneath the storeroom, and took from there worn-out clothes and worn-out rags, and let them down by ropes into the cistern to Jeremiah.

Then Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, "Now put these worn-out clothes and rags under your armpits under the ropes"; and Jeremiah did so.

So they pulled Jeremiah out with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern, and Jeremiah stayed in the ^(C1)courtyard of the guardhouse.