Jeremiah 38
38
Jeremiah Thrown into a Muddy Cistern
1The officials of Jerusalem were listening to me as I was prophesying, including Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchiah. 2I told them: “Yahweh says that whoever stays in this city will die by sword, plague, or food shortages, but anyone who leaves the city and surrenders to the Babylonians will escape with their lives and live. 3For Yahweh has said, ‘I will certainly hand over Jerusalem to the army of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.’ ”
4Then the officials said to the king, “This traitor must die! His words are demoralizing the soldiers and all the people left in the city. This man is not seeking the welfare of the people but their ruin.”
5King Zedekiah answered, “He is in your hands, so do what you want, I will not stand in your way.” # 38:5 King Zedekiah was presumptuous toward God, weak in his leadership, and childish in his conduct (see vv. 18–19). 6So they took me and put me into the muddy cistern of the king’s son Malchiah in the palace courtyard. There was little water in the cistern, only mud. They lowered me down with ropes, and I sank down deep into the mud. # 38:6 See Lam. 3:53–57.
Rescued by the Ethiopian
7Ebed-Melech # 38:7 The Hebrew term ebed melech means “servant of the king.” Ebed-Melech is used here as a proper name. the Ethiopian, a palace official, # 38:7 Or “eunuch,” which is more likely an official title rather than an indication that Ebed-Melech was physically a eunuch. heard that I had been put into the cistern. As the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate, # 38:7 Kings would often hold court at the gates of the city and adjudicate cases. 8Ebed-Melech came out from the palace and spoke to the king. 9“My lord the king,” he said, “these evil men were wrong to throw the prophet Jeremiah into a muddy cistern. He will starve to death there since there is no more food left in the city.”
10So the king commanded Ebed-Melech, “Take thirty # 38:10 Some manuscripts have “three men.” men with you from the palace guard and pull the prophet Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies.” 11So he went with the men into the palace to a room under the treasury and took some worn-out clothing and rags and lowered them on ropes to me in the cistern. 12Ebed-Melech then shouted down to me, “Here, put these worn-out clothes and rags under your armpits to pad the ropes.” 13So they hauled me up from the cistern and pulled me out, and I remained in confinement in the palace guardhouse. # 38:13 Like Jeremiah of old, we have been drawn up by God out of the pit of sin with cords of love. The worn-out clothes and filthy rags of our own righteousness will be discarded. From then on, we remain prisoners of the Lord in the bonds of the new covenant.
Zedekiah Asks Jeremiah for a Word
14Later, King Zedekiah summoned me to meet him at his private entrance # 38:14 Or “the third entrance,” which was likely the private entrance of the king. to the temple of Yahweh. “I want to ask you for a word,” the king said to me, “and keep nothing back from me.”
15I answered him, “If I tell you the truth you will put me to death. And if I tell you what you should do, you will not listen to me.”
16King Zedekiah then secretly promised me with an oath, saying, “As surely as Yahweh, the giver of this life of ours, # 38:16 Or “who made for us our souls.” lives, I will neither have you put to death nor hand you over to these men who are determined to kill you.”
17“Well then,” I said to Zedekiah, “Yahweh, the God of Israel, Commander of Angel Armies says, ‘If you go out and surrender to Nebuchadnezzar’s generals, your life will be spared, and Jerusalem will not be burned down. You and your family will survive. 18But if you do not surrender to Nebuchadnezzar’s generals, this city will be handed over to the Babylonians, they will burn it down, and I will make sure that you are taken prisoner by your enemies.’ ”
19King Zedekiah then said to me, “I’m afraid of our own people who have already defected to the Babylonians. They might give me into their hands; then they will torture me!”
20“That will not happen,” I told him. “Please listen to Yahweh’s voice in what I say, and then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared. 21Yahweh has given me a vision of what will happen to you if you refuse to surrender. 22I saw all the women left in the king’s palace being led out and given to the generals of the king of Babylon. And they were all taunting you as they were led away:
“ ‘Your trusted friends # 38:22 That is, the false prophets who prophesied peace when God had destined the Babylonian invasion. led you astray
and overcame you!
They told you to resist,
as they all ran away!
See, now your feet are stuck in the mire,
yes, you’re trapped so deep in the mud.’ # 38:22 There is an intentional parallel drawn between the king’s position in this prophecy and the experience of Jeremiah (see v. 6).
23“Yes, all your wives and children will be marched out into your enemy’s camp. And you, Zedekiah, will be a prisoner in the clutches of the king of Babylon, powerless to escape. And this city will be burned to the ground.”
24Zedekiah then said to me, “If you wish to keep on living, tell no one about our conversation. 25If my officials hear that I have been talking to you, and they come and ask you, ‘What did you say to the king and what did the king say to you? You’d better tell us everything, or we will kill you,’ 26then you must reply, ‘I humbly begged the king not to send me back to the prison at Jonathan’s house to die there.’ ”
27In fact, the officials did come to interrogate me about my meeting with the king, so I told them exactly what he had instructed me to say. Because no one overheard my conversation with the king, they stopped questioning me at that point.
28And so, I remained confined in the palace guardhouse until the tragic day Jerusalem was captured.
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Jeremiah 38: TPT
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