¹And Shephatiah son of Mattan, and Gedaliah son of Pashhur, and Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard the words that Jeremiah was speaking to all the people, saying,

²“This is what Yahweh said: ‘He who dwells in this city will die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; and he who goes out to the Chaldeans will live, and his being will be to him as plunder, and he will live.’

³This is what Yahweh said: ‘This city will surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.’”

⁴And the officials said to the king, “Please let this man be put to death, for in this way he is slackening the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking to them words like these; for this man is not seeking the wholeness of this people, but evil.”

⁵And King Zedekiah said, “Look, he is in your hand; for the king is not able to prevail against you in any word.”

⁶And they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Malkijah the king's son, which was in the court of the guard; and they let down Jeremiah with ropes. Now in the cistern there was no water, only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.

⁷And Ebed-Melech the Cushite, a man, an official who was in the house of the king, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern; and the king was sitting in the gate of Benjamin.

⁸And Ebed-Melech went out from the house of the king 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 thrown into the cistern; and he will die where he is because of the famine, for there is no more bread in the city.”

¹⁰And the king commanded Ebed-Melech the Cushite, saying, “Take thirty men from here with you, and bring up Jeremiah the prophet from the cistern before he dies.”

¹¹And Ebed-Melech took the men with him and went to the house of the king, to a place under the storehouse; and he took from there worn-out rags and worn-out scraps, and let them down by ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern.

¹²And Ebed-Melech the Cushite said to Jeremiah, “Please put the worn-out rags and the scraps under your armpits, beneath the ropes.” And Jeremiah did so.

¹³And they drew Jeremiah with the ropes and brought him up out of the cistern; and Jeremiah dwelt in the court of the guard.

¹⁴And King Zedekiah sent and took Jeremiah the prophet to himself, to the third entrance which is in the house of Yahweh; and the king said to Jeremiah, “I am about to ask you a word; do not hide a word from me.”

¹⁵And Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I advise you, you will not listen to me.”

¹⁶And King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in secret, saying, “As Yahweh lives, who made for us this being, I will not put you to death, and I will not give you into the hand of these men who are seeking your being.”

¹⁷And Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what Yahweh, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, said: If you will surely go out to the officials of the king of Babylon, your being will live, and this city will not be burned with fire, and you will live, you and your household.

¹⁸But if you will not go out to the officials of the king of Babylon, this city will be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they will burn it with fire, and you will not escape from their hand.”

¹⁹And King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am anxious about the Jews who have gone over to the Chaldeans, lest they give me into their hand and deal severely with me.”

²⁰And Jeremiah said, “They will not give you over. Please listen to the voice of Yahweh in what I am speaking to you, so that it will go well for you, and your being will live.

²¹But if you are refusing to go out, this is the word that Yahweh has shown me:

²²And look, all the women who are left in the house of the king of Judah are being brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon, and they are saying, ‘The men of your wholeness incited you and prevailed over you; your feet sank in the mire, they have turned back.’

²³And all your wives and your sons are being brought out to the Chaldeans, and you will not escape from their hand; for you will be seized by the hand of the king of Babylon, and you will burn this city with fire.”

²⁴And Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know of these words, and you will not die.

²⁵And if the officials hear that I have spoken with you, and they come to you and they say to you, ‘Please tell us what you said to the king; do not hide it from us, and we will not put you to death; and what did the king say to you?’

²⁶then you will say to them, 'I was making my plea fall before the face of the king, so that he would not bring me back to the house of Jonathan, to die there.'

²⁷And all the officials came to Jeremiah and asked him; and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. And they kept silent and let him alone, for the word had not been heard.

²⁸And Jeremiah dwelt in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was captured; and he was there when Jerusalem was captured.