Jeremiah 38-40

New King James Version

Jeremiah in the Dungeon

38 Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, ^(A)Jucal^[a] the son of Shelemiah, and ^(B)Pashhur the son of Malchiah ^(C)heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people, saying, ² “Thus says the Lord: ^(D)‘He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes over to the Chaldeans shall live; his life shall be as a prize to him, and he shall live.’ ³ Thus says the Lord: ^(E)‘This city shall surely be ^(F)given into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which shall take it.’ ”

⁴ Therefore the princes said to the king, “Please, ^(G)let this man be put to death, for thus he ^[b]weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man does not seek the ^[c]welfare of this people, but their harm.”

⁵ Then Zedekiah the king said, “Look, he is in your hand. For the king can do nothing against you.” ^6 (H)So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah ^[d]the king’s son, which was in the court of the prison, and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire. So Jeremiah sank in the mire.

^7 (I)Now Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, one of the ^[e]eunuchs, who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon. When the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin, ⁸ Ebed-Melech went out of the king’s house and spoke to the king, saying: ⁹ “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon, and he is likely to die from hunger in the place where he is. For there is ^(J)no more bread in the city.” ¹⁰ 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.” ¹¹ So Ebed-Melech took the men with him and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took from there old clothes and old rags, and let them down by ropes into the dungeon to Jeremiah. ¹² Then Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Please put these old clothes and rags under your armpits, under the ropes.” And Jeremiah did so. ¹³ So they pulled Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the dungeon. And Jeremiah remained ^(K)in the court of the prison.

Zedekiah’s Fears and Jeremiah’s Advice

¹⁴ Then Zedekiah the king sent and had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance of the house of the Lord. And the king said to Jeremiah, “I will ^(L)ask you something. Hide nothing from me.”

¹⁵ Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.”

¹⁶ So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, “As the Lord lives, ^(M)who made our very souls, I will not put you to death, nor will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life.”

¹⁷ Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If you surely ^(N)surrender^{[f] (O)}to the king of Babylon’s princes, then your soul shall live; this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. ¹⁸ But if you do not ^[g]surrender to the king of Babylon’s princes, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans; they shall burn it with fire, and ^(P)you shall not escape from their hand.’ ”

¹⁹ And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have ^(Q)defected to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they ^(R)abuse me.”

²⁰ But Jeremiah said, “They shall not deliver you. Please, obey the voice of the Lord which I speak to you. So it shall be ^(S)well with you, and your soul shall live. ²¹ But if you refuse to ^[h]surrender, this is the word that the Lord has shown me: ²² ‘Now behold, all the ^(T)women who are left in the king of Judah’s house shall be surrendered to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those women shall say:

²³ ‘So they shall surrender all your wives and ^(U)children to the Chaldeans. ^(V)You shall not escape from their hand, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon. And you shall cause this city to be burned with fire.’ ”

²⁴ Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die. ²⁵ But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say to you, ‘Declare to us now what you have said to the king, and also what the king said to you; do not hide it from us, and we will not put you to death,’ ²⁶ then you shall say to them, ^(W)‘I presented my request before the king, that he would not make me return ^(X)to Jonathan’s house to die there.’ ”

²⁷ Then all the princes came to Jeremiah and asked him. And he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they stopped speaking with him, for the conversation had not been heard. ²⁸ Now ^(Y)Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken. And he was there when Jerusalem was taken.

The Fall of Jerusalem^(Z)

39 In the ^(AA)ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem, and besieged it. ² In the ^(AB)eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the ^[k]city was penetrated.

^3 (AC)Then all the princes of the king of Babylon came in and sat in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer, Samgar-Nebo, Sarsechim, ^[l]Rabsaris, Nergal-Sarezer, ^[m]Rabmag, with the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon.

^4 (AD)So it was, when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, that they fled and went out of the city by night, by way of the king’s garden, by the gate between the two walls. And he went out by way of the ^[n]plain. ⁵ But the Chaldean army pursued them and ^(AE)overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had captured him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, to ^(AF)Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment on him. ⁶ Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his ^(AG)eyes in Riblah; the king of Babylon also killed all the ^(AH)nobles of Judah. ⁷ Moreover ^(AI)he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with bronze ^[o]fetters to carry him off to Babylon. ^8 (AJ)And the Chaldeans burned the king’s house and the houses of the people with ^(AK)fire, and broke down the ^(AL)walls of Jerusalem. ^9 (AM)Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive to Babylon the remnant of the people who remained in the city and those who ^(AN)defected to him, with the rest of the people who remained. ¹⁰ But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left in the land of Judah the ^(AO)poor people, who had nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields ^[p]at the same time.

Jeremiah Goes Free

¹¹ Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying, ¹² “Take him and look after him, and do him no ^(AP)harm; but do to him just as he says to you.” ¹³ So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent Nebushasban, Rabsaris, Nergal-Sharezer, Rabmag, and all the king of Babylon’s chief officers; ¹⁴ then they sent someone ^(AQ)to take Jeremiah from the court of the prison, and committed him ^(AR)to Gedaliah the son of ^(AS)Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should take him home. So he dwelt among the people.

¹⁵ Meanwhile the word of the Lord had come to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying, ¹⁶ “Go and speak to ^(AT)Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Behold, ^(AU)I will bring My words upon this city for adversity and not for good, and they shall be performed in that day before you. ¹⁷ But I will deliver you in that day,” says the Lord, “and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. ¹⁸ For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword; but ^(AV)your life shall be as a prize to you, ^(AW)because you have put your trust in Me,” says the Lord.’ ”

Jeremiah with Gedaliah the Governor^(AX)

40 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord ^(AY)after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him bound in chains among all who were carried away captive from Jerusalem and Judah, who were carried away captive to Babylon.

² And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah and ^(AZ)said to him: “The Lord your God has pronounced this doom on this place. ³ Now the Lord has brought it, and has done just as He said. ^(BA)Because you people have sinned against the Lord, and not obeyed His voice, therefore this thing has come upon you. ⁴ And now look, I free you this day from the chains that ^[q]were on your hand. ^(BB)If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you. But if it seems wrong for you to come with me to Babylon, remain here. See, ^(BC)all the land is before you; wherever it seems good and convenient for you to go, go there.”

⁵ Now while Jeremiah had not yet gone back, Nebuzaradan said, “Go back to ^(BD)Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ^(BE)whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people. Or go wherever it seems convenient for you to go.” So the captain of the guard gave him rations and a gift and let him go. ^6 (BF)Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, to ^(BG)Mizpah, and dwelt with him among the people who were left in the land.

^7 (BH)And when all the captains of the armies who were in the fields, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed to him men, women, children, and ^(BI)the poorest of the land who had not been carried away captive to Babylon, ⁸ then they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—^(BJ)Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, ^(BK)Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and ^(BL)Jezaniah^[r] the son of a ^(BM)Maachathite, they and their men. ⁹ And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, took an oath before them and their men, saying, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be ^(BN)well with you. ¹⁰ As for me, I will indeed dwell at Mizpah and serve the Chaldeans who come to us. But you, gather wine and summer fruit and oil, put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken.” ¹¹ Likewise, when all the Jews who were in Moab, among the Ammonites, in Edom, and who were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ¹² then all the Jews ^(BO)returned out of all places where they had been driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruit in abundance.

¹³ Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were in the fields came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, ¹⁴ and said to him, ^[s]“Do you certainly know that ^(BP)Baalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to murder you?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them.

¹⁵ Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah in Mizpah, saying, “Let me go, please, and I will kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he murder you, so that all the Jews who are gathered to you would be scattered, and the ^(BQ)remnant in Judah perish?”

¹⁶ But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, “You shall not do this thing, for you speak falsely concerning Ishmael.”