1Now Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchijah heard the words Jeremiah was telling all the people:
2“This is what the LORD says: Whoever stays in this city will die by sword, famine, and plague, but whoever surrenders to the Chaldeans will live. He will escape with his life as a reward and will live.
4Then the officials said to the king, “This man ought to die, for he is discouraging the warriors who remain in this city, as well as all the people, by speaking such words to them; this man is not seeking the well-being of these people, but their ruin.”
6So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah with ropes into the cistern, which had no water but only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.
7Now Ebed-melech the Cushite, a court official in the royal palace, heard that Jeremiah had been put into the cistern. While the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin,
9“My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have dropped him into the cistern, where he will starve to death, for there is no more bread in the city.”
11Then Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to the king’s palace, to a place below the storehouse. From there he took old rags and worn-out clothes and lowered them with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern.
14Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and received him at the third entrance that is in the house of the LORD. “I am going to ask you something,” said the king to Jeremiah. “Do not hide anything from me.”
16But King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah secretly, “As surely as the LORD lives, who has given us this life, I will not kill you or hand you over to these men who are seeking your life.”
17Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you indeed surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then you will live, this city will not be burned down, and you and your household will survive.
18But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city will be handed over to the Chaldeans. They will burn it down, and you yourself will not escape their grasp.’”
19But King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have deserted to the Chaldeans, for the Chaldeans may hand me over to them to abuse me.”
22All the women who remain in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon, and those women will say: ‘They misled you and overcame you—those trusted friends of yours. Your feet sank into the mire, and they deserted you.’”
23All your wives and children will be brought out to the Chaldeans. And you yourself will not escape their grasp, for you will be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned down.’
25If the officials hear that I have spoken with you and come and demand of you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what he said to you; do not hide it from us, or we will kill you,’
27When all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him, he reported to them the exact words the king had commanded. So they said no more to him, for no one had overheard the conversation.
