The king's officials put Jeremiah in a water-well
1Jeremiah talked to the people, and Shephatiah, son of Mattan, Gedaliah, son of Pashhur, Jehukal, son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur, son of Malkijah, heard what he said. 2Jeremiah said: ‘The Lord says, any person who stays in this city will die from war, famine or disease. But any person who goes to the Babylonians will live. He will have nothing, but he will keep on living. 3The Lord said: “I will give this city to the soldiers of the king of Babylon. They will defeat this city, that is sure.” ’
4The officials said to the king: ‘You must kill this man because he says things that discourage the soldiers who are still in the city. He also discourages all the other people. He does not want good things to happen to us. He wants us to be destroyed.’
5King Zedekiah said: ‘You may do to Jeremiah what you want to do. I can not stop you.’
6Then the officials took Jeremiah and tied ropes to him and let him go down into a water-well that belonged to Malkijah, the son of the king. There was no water in the well, but there was mud and Jeremiah went deep down into the mud. 7There was a man from the land of Cush who was a servant in the palace. His name was Ebed-Melek and people told him that they had put Jeremiah into the water-well. The king was sitting at the Benjamin Gate. 8Ebed-Melek came from the palace to the king and he said: 9‘Your_Majesty, these men have done something bad to Jeremiah. They have put him in a water-well so that he will die from hunger, because there is no more food in the city.’
10The king told the man from Cush, Ebed-Melek: ‘You must go and take 3 men with you. You must take Jeremiah out of the water-well before he dies.’
11Ebed-Melek took the men with him and he took old clothes that were torn from the store room of the palace with him. He let them down with ropes into the well to Jeremiah, who was in the well. 12He told Jeremiah to put the clothes under his arms so that the ropes would not hurt his arms. 13Jeremiah did that and they pulled him out of the water-well with the ropes. He then stayed in the courtyard of the guards.
The king talks to Jeremiah again
14King Zedekiah told the people to bring the prophet Jeremiah to him. The king was sitting at the 3rd door of the temple. He said to Jeremiah: ‘I want to ask you something and you must tell me everything.’
15Jeremiah said to Zedekiah: ‘If I tell you everything, you will kill me, that is sure. And if I tell you what to do, you will not listen to me.’
16King Zedekiah talked to Jeremiah in a place where they were alone, and he promised Jeremiah and said: ‘As sure as the Lord lives, who gives us life, I will not kill you and I will not give you to the men who want to kill you.’
17Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah: ‘The Lord, the God who rules over all, the God of Israel, says: “If you go out of the city to the officers of the king of Babylon, then you will live, and then they will not burn down this city. You and your family will keep on living. 18But if you don't go out to the officers of the king of Babylon, I will give this city to the Babylonians and they will burn it down. And you will not be able to flee from them.” ’
19King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah: ‘I am afraid of the people of Judah who ran away to the Babylonians to fight with them. The Babylonians will give me to those people of Judah and they will attack me and hurt me.’
20Jeremiah said: ‘The Babylonians will not give you to those people. King Zedekiah, please listen to the Lord and do what He says. Then all will be well with you and you will stay alive. 21But the Lord showed me what will happen if you do not want to go out to them: 22All the women who are left over in the palace of the king_of_Judah will be taken to the officers of the king of Babylon and they will say:
“You have believed the words of your friends,
but they did not tell you the truth.
They made you decide what is wrong.
Now your feet will go down deep into the mud,
and your friends have fled.”
23King Zedekiah, all your wives and your children will be taken out to the Babylonians and you will not be able to run away and flee. Yes, they will catch you and give you to the king of Babylon and they will burn down this city.’
24Zedekiah said to Jeremiah: ‘You must tell no one what we talked about, and then you will not die. 25If they tell the officials that I was talking to you, they will come to you and they will tell you: “Tell us what you have said to the king. You must tell us everything, and then we will not kill you.”
They will also ask you what the king told you. 26If they ask you, you must tell them: “I begged the king not to send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.” ’
27All the officials went to Jeremiah and asked him what they had talked about. He answered them as the king had told him and they left him, because no one had heard what he and the king were talking about. 28Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the guards until the day when the Babylonians defeated Jerusalem.
The Babylonians defeated Jerusalem. This is what happened:
