1And Shephatiah, son of Mathan, and Gedaliah, son of Pashkhur, and Yukal, son of Shelamiah, and Pashkhur, son of Malkiah, heard the answer that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people 2Thus says LORD JEHOVAH: “He who dwells in this city shall die by the sword or by starvation or by plague, and whoever goes out to the Chaldeans lives and saves himself 3Thus says LORD JEHOVAH: ‘This city shall be handed over into the hand of the army of the King of Babel and he shall enslave it!’” 4And the Princes said to the King: “Let this man be killed, because he is weakening the hands of the men the Servants of war who are left in this city and the hands of all the people to whom he spoke this message, because this man does not desire peace for this people, but only evil” 5And King Tsedeqia said: “Behold he is delivered into your hands, because the King cannot say anything to you” 6And they brought Jeremiah and they threw him into the well of Malkiah, son of the King, in the court of the house of prisoners, and they let Jeremiah down by ropes into the well, and there was no water in the well, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud

7And Ebed Melek, an Ethiopian Eunuch man, was in the house of the King, and had heard that they had cast Jeremiah into the well, and the King was sitting in the gate of Benyamin 8And EbedMelek went out from the house of the King and said to the King 9“My Lord, what these men have done to Jeremiah the Prophet whom they have cast into a well is evil, and behold, he is dying of starvation, because there is no bread in the city!” 10And the King commanded EbedMelek the Kushite and said to him: “Take thirty men with you from here, and go bring up Jeremiah from the well before he dies” 11And Ebed Melek the Kushite took men with him and entered the house of treasure that is under the house of the King, and he took from there old rags of refuse and old rags of towels and let them down to Jeremiah into the pit by a rope 12And Ebed Melek the Kushite said to Jeremiah: “Put the old rags of refuse and of towels under your armpits under the rope, and Jeremiah did so” 13And they pulled Jeremiah by the rope and they brought him up from the pit, and Jeremiah stayed in the court of the house of prisoners

14And King Tsedeqia sent and took Jeremiah the Prophet to him inside of the three entrances of the house of LORD JEHOVAH, and the King said to Jeremiah: "I ask of you the word. Do not hide the word from me" 15And Jeremiah said to Tsedeqiah: “If I show you, behold, you will kill me, and if I counsel you, you will not hear me” 16And King Tsedeqia swore to Jeremiah in the house secretly, and said: “Living is LORD JEHOVAH who made a soul in us, that I shall not kill you, and I shall not hand you over into the hand of those men who seek your life!”

17And Jeremiah said to Tsedeqiah: “Thus says LORD JEHOVAH of Hosts, God of Israel: ‘If you go out to the Princes of the King of Babel, you save your life and this city does not burn in fire, and you live and your household! 18And if you will not go out to the Princes of the King of Babel, this city is handed over into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they will burn it in fire and you shall certainly not escape from their hands!’” 19And King Tsedeqia said to Jeremiah: “I am afraid of the Hebrews to go to the Chaldeans, lest they will hand me over into their hands and they will molest me” 20And Jeremiah said: “They are not handing you over, but listen to the word of LORD JEHOVAH that I spoke to you, that it will be good for you and your soul will live! 21And if you choose not to go out, this is the word that LORD JEHOVAH has shown me:

22‘All women that are left in the house of the King of Judea shall come out to the Princes of the King of Babel and say “The men who have been invoking your peace deceived you and prevailed over you and sank your feet into the mud, and they have turned their tail”

23And all your wives and your sons are going out to the Chaldeans, and you certainly shall not escape from their hands, but you shall be handed over into his hands of the King of Babel, and this city will burn in fire!”

24And Tsedeqia said to Jeremiah: “Let no man know these words, that you will not die! 25And when the Princes will hear that I have spoken with you and they shall come to you and they will say to you: ‘Show us what you have spoken with the King and what the King said to you, do not hide from us lest we kill you!’ 26Say to them: ‘I begged of the King that he would not return me to the house of Jonathan the Scribe, that I would not die there!’” 27And all the Princes came to Jeremiah and they asked him and he told them all the words that the King commanded him, and they silenced themselves toward him, because the matter was not heard 28And Jeremiah remained in the court of the house of prisoners until the day that Jerusalem was besieged