(KJV) Jeremiah 381

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⥃Jeremiah Cast into the Cistern

[1] Then Shephatiah2 the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and Jucal3 the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur4 the son of Malchiah, heard5 the words that Jeremiah had spoken unto all the people, saying, [2] Thus saith the6 Lord, He that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have7 his life for a prey, and shall live. [3] Thus saith the Lord, This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which shall take it.8 [4] Therefore the princes9 said unto the king, We beseech thee, let this man be put to death: for thus10 he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeketh not the welfare11 of this people, but the hurt. [5] Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he [is] in your hand: for12 the king [is] not [he that] can do [any] thing against you. [6] Then took13 they Jeremiah, and cast him into14 the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech15, that [was] in the court of the prison: and they16 let down Jeremiah with cords. And in17 the dungeon [there was] no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.

[7] [¶]Now when Ebed–melech18 the Ethiopian19, one of the eunuchs20 which was in the king21’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin; [8] Ebed–melech went forth out of the king’s house, and spake to the king, saying, [9] My lord the king, these22 men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die23 for hunger in the place where he is: for [there24 is] no more bread in the city. [10] Then the king25 commanded Ebed–melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with thee26, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die. [11] So Ebed–melech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took thence old cast clouts and old rotten rags, and let them27 down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah. [12] And Ebed–melech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put28 now [these] old cast clouts and rotten rags under thine armholes under the cords. And Jeremiah did so. [13] So29 they drew up Jeremiah30 with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.

[14] Then Zedekiah the king sent31, and took Jeremiah the prophet unto him into the third32 entry that [is] in the house of the Lord: and the king said unto Jeremiah, I will33 ask thee a thing; hide nothing from me. [15] Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, If I declare [it] unto thee, wilt thou not surely put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, wilt thou not hearken unto me?34 [16] So Zedekiah the king sware35 secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, [As] the Lord liveth, that made36 us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these37 men that seek thy life. [17] Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts38, the God of Israel39; If thou40 wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon’s princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live, and thine house: [18] But if thou41 wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, then42 shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand. [19] And Zedeki43ah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock44 me. [20] But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver [thee]. Obey45, I beseech thee, the voice of the Lord, which I speak unto thee: so it shall be well unto thee, and thy46 soul shall live. [21] But if thou47 refuse to go forth, this [is48] the word that the Lord hath shewed me: [22] And, behold, all49 the women that are left in the king of Judah’s house [shall be] brought forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those50 [women] shall say, Thy friends51 have set52 thee on, and have prevailed against thee: thy feet53 are sunk in the mire, [and] they are54 turned away back. [23] So they shall55 bring out all thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans: and thou shalt not escape out of their hand, but shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and thou shalt cause56 this city to be burned with fire.

[24] [¶]Then said Zedekiah unto Jeremiah, Let no man know of these words, and thou shalt not die. [25] But if the princes hear that I have talked with thee, and they come unto thee, and say unto thee, Declare unto us now what thou hast said unto the king, hide it not from us, and we will not put thee to death; also what the king said unto thee:57 [26] Then thou shalt say unto them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan’s house, to die there.58 [27] Then came all the princes unto Jeremiah, and asked him: and he told59 them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him60; for the matter was not perceived. [28] So Jeremiah abode in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken: and he was [there] when Jerusalem was taken. 61

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  1. Jer 38:1, Jeremiah, by a false suggestion, is put into the dungeon of Malchiah; Jer 38:7, Edebmelech, by suit, gets him some enlargement; Jer 38:14, Upon secret conference, he counsels the king by yielding to save his life; Jer 38:24, By the king’s instructions he conceals the conference from the princes. ↩

  2. Ezra 2:3; Neh 7:9 ↩

  3. Jer 37:4, Jehucal ↩

  4. Jer 21:1-10, Melchiah, 1Chr 9:12, Malchijah, Neh 11:12 ↩

  5. Acts 4:1-2, Acts 4:6-10, Acts 5:28 ↩

  6. Jer 38:17-23, Jer 21:8-9, Jer 24:8, Jer 27:13, Jer 29:18, Jer 34:17, Jer 42:17, Jer 42:22, Jer 44:13; Ezek 5:12-17, Ezek 6:11, Ezek 7:15, Ezek 14:21; Matt 24:7-8; Rev 6:4-8 ↩

  7. Jer 21:9, Jer 39:18, Jer 45:5 ↩

  8. Jer 21:10, Jer 32:3-5 ↩

  9. Jer 26:11, Jer 26:21-23, Jer 36:12-16; 2Chr 24:21; Ezek 22:27; Mic 3:1-3; Zeph 3:1-3 ↩

  10. Exod 5:4; 1Kgs 18:17-18, 1Kgs 21:20; Ezra 4:12; Neh 6:9; Amos 7:10; Luke 23:2; John 11:46-50; Acts 16:20, Acts 17:6, Acts 24:5, Acts 28:22 ↩

  11. Heb. peace, Jer 29:7 ↩

  12. 1Sam 15:24, 1Sam 29:9; 2Sam 3:39, 2Sam 19:22; Prov 29:25; John 19:12-16 ↩

  13. Jer 37:21; Ps 109:5; Luke 3:19-20 ↩

  14. Jer 37:16; Lam 3:55; Acts 16:24; 2Cor 4:8-9; Heb 10:36 ↩

  15. or, the king, Jer 36:26 ↩

  16. Jer 38:11-12 ↩

  17. 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 (Jer 38:26; Jer 37:20). Jer 38:22; Gen 37:24; Ps 40:2, Ps 69:2, Ps 69:14-15; Lam 3:52-55; Zech 9:11 ↩

  18. Jer 39:16-18 ↩

  19. Jer 13:23; Ps 68:31; Matt 8:11-12, Matt 20:16; Luke 10:30-36, Luke 13:29-30; Acts 8:27-39 ↩

  20. Jer 29:2, Jer 34:19; 2Kgs 24:15 *marg. ↩

  21. Jer 37:13; Deut 21:19; Job 29:7-17; Amos 5:10 ↩

  22. Jer 38:1-6; Esth 7:4-6; Job 31:34; Prov 24:11-12, Prov 31:8-9 ↩

  23. Heb. will die ↩

  24. Jer 37:21, Jer 52:6 ↩

  25. Esth 5:2, Esth 8:7; Ps 75:10; Prov 21:1 ↩

  26. Heb. in thine hand ↩

  27. Jer 38:6 ↩

  28. Rom 12:10, Rom 12:15; Eph 4:32 ↩

  29. Jer 38:6 ↩

  30. Jer 38:28, Jer 37:21, Jer 39:14-18; 1Kgs 22:27; Acts 23:35, Acts 24:23-26, Acts 28:16, Acts 28:30 ↩

  31. Jer 21:1-2, Jer 37:17 ↩

  32. or, principal, 1Kgs 10:5; 2Kgs 16:18 ↩

  33. Jer 42:2-5, Jer 42:20; 1Sam 3:17-18; 1Kgs 22:16; 2Chr 18:15 ↩

  34. Luke 22:67-68 ↩

  35. Jer 37:17; John 3:2 ↩

  36. Num 16:22, Num 27:16; Eccl 12:7; Isa 57:16; Zech 12:1; Heb 12:9 ↩

  37. Jer 38:1-6, Jer 34:20 ↩

  38. Ps 80:7, Ps 80:14; Amos 5:27 ↩

  39. 1Chr 17:24; Ezra 9:4 ↩

  40. Jer 38:2, Jer 7:6-7, Jer 21:8-10, Jer 27:12, Jer 27:17, Jer 39:3; Job 23:13 ↩

  41. 2Kgs 24:12, 2Kgs 25:27-30 ↩

  42. Jer 38:3, Jer 38:23, Jer 24:8-10, Jer 32:3-5, Jer 34:2-3, Jer 34:19-22, Jer 39:3, Jer 39:5-7, Jer 52:7-11; 2Kgs 25:4-10; Ezek 12:13, Ezek 17:20-21, Ezek 21:25-27 ↩

  43. Jer 38:5; 1Sam 15:24; Job 31:34; Prov 29:25; Isa 51:12-13, Isa 57:11; John 12:42; John 19:12-13 ↩

  44. Jer 38:22; Judg 9:54, Judg 16:25; 1Sam 31:4; Isa 45:9-10 ↩

  45. Jer 26:13; 2Chr 20:20; Dan 4:27; Acts 26:29; 2Cor 5:11, 2Cor 5:20, 2Cor 6:1; Phlm 1:8-10; Jas 1:22 ↩

  46. Isa 55:3 ↩

  47. Jer 5:3; Exod 10:3-4, Exod 16:28; Job 34:33; Prov 1:24-31; Isa 1:19-20; Heb 12:25 ↩

  48. Jer 15:19-21, Jer 26:15; Num 23:19-20, Num 24:13; Job 23:13; Ezek 2:4-5, Ezek 2:7; Ezek 3:17-19; Acts 18:6, Acts 20:26-27 ↩

  49. Jer 41:10, Jer 43:6; Lam 5:11 ↩

  50. Mr. Harmer would render, "and here (hennah or reading hinneh behold), the women (wont to sing on public occasions) shall say," etc.; observing "that these bitter speeches much better suit the lips of women belonging to the conquering nation, singing before a captive prince, than of his own wives and concubines." This he illustrates by the following extract from Della Valle: When he was at Lar, in Persia, the king of Ormuz was brought thither in triumph; and "this poor unfortunate king entered Lar, with his people, in the morning, music playing, and girls and women singing and dancing before him, according to the custom of Persia, and the people flocking together with a prodigious concourse, and conducting him in a pompous and magnificent manner, particularly with colours displayed, like what the Messenians formerly did to Philopoemen, the general of the Athenians, their prisoner of war, according to the report of Justin." ↩

  51. Heb. The men of thy peace, Jer 38:4-6, Jer 20:10; Ps 41:9 *marg. ↩

  52. Jer 38:19; Lam 1:2; Mic 7:5 ↩

  53. Jer 38:6; Ps 69:2, Ps 69:14 ↩

  54. Jer 46:5, Jer 46:21; Isa 42:17; Lam 1:13 ↩

  55. Jer 38:18, Jer 39:6, Jer 41:10, Jer 52:8-13; 2Kgs 25:7; 2Chr 36:20-21 ↩

  56. etc. Heb. shalt burn, etc. Jer 27:12-13; Ezek 14:9, Ezek 43:3 ↩

  57. Jer 38:4-6, Jer 38:27 ↩

  58. Jer 37:15, Jer 37:20, Jer 42:2; Esth 4:8 ↩

  59. 1Sam 10:15-16, 1Sam 16:2-5; 2Kgs 6:19; Acts 23:6 ↩

  60. Heb. were silent from him ↩

  61. Jer 38:13, Jer 15:20-21, Jer 37:21, Jer 39:14; Ps 23:4; 2Tim 3:11, 2Tim 4:17-18 ↩