# Jeremiah 38

> Lumin Translation

Source: https://www.lumin.faith/read/jeremiah/38

Lumin’s own translation, drafted with AI from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, checked verse by verse against them, and approved by Lumin. Brackets mark verses not found in the earliest manuscripts.

How it was made: https://www.lumin.faith/lumin-translation.md

1. Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah was speaking to all the people:
2. “This is what Yahweh says: Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, by famine, and by plague, but whoever goes out to the Chaldeans will live. He will have his life as his spoil of war, and he will live.
3. This is what Yahweh says: This city will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.”
4. Then the officials said to the king, “This man must be put to death. He is weakening the resolve of the soldiers who are left in this city, and of all the people, by speaking such words to them. This man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm.”
5. King Zedekiah said, “He is in your hands, for the king can do nothing to stop you.”
6. So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They let Jeremiah down with ropes. There was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.
7. But Ebed-melech the Cushite, a eunuch who served in the king’s palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was sitting at the Benjamin Gate,
8. Ebed-melech went out from the palace and spoke to the king:
9. “My lord the king, these men have done evil in everything they have done to the prophet Jeremiah. They have thrown him into the cistern, and he will die there of hunger, for there is no more bread in the city.”
10. Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Cushite, “Take thirty men from here with you, and pull the prophet Jeremiah up out of the cistern before he dies.”
11. So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went into the palace, to a room under the treasury. He took some worn-out rags and old clothes from there and let them down with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern.
12. Ebed-melech the Cushite said to Jeremiah, “Put these worn-out rags and clothes under your arms, beneath the ropes.” Jeremiah did so.
13. Then they pulled Jeremiah up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. So Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the guard.
14. King Zedekiah sent for the prophet Jeremiah and had him brought to him at the third entrance of the house of Yahweh. The king said to Jeremiah, “I am going to ask you something. Do not hide anything from me.”
15. Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.”
16. But King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in secret, “As Yahweh lives, who has given us this life, I will not put you to death or hand you over to these men who are seeking your life.”
17. Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what Yahweh, the God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: If you will go out and surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned with fire; you and your household will live.
18. But if you do not go out and surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, this city will be handed over to the Chaldeans, and they will burn it with fire, and you yourself will not escape from their hands.”
19. King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have deserted to the Chaldeans. I may be handed over to them, and they will abuse me.”
20. Jeremiah said, “You will not be handed over. Please obey the voice of Yahweh in what I am telling you, so that it may go well with you and your life may be spared.
21. But if you refuse to surrender, this is what Yahweh has shown me:
22. All the women who are left in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon, and they will say, ‘Your trusted friends misled you and overpowered you; now that your feet are sunk in the mud, they have turned back.’
23. All your wives and your children will be brought out to the Chaldeans. You yourself will not escape from their hands; you will be seized by the king of Babylon, and you will cause this city to be burned with fire.”
24. Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know about this conversation, and you will not die.
25. If the officials hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king. Do not hide it from us, and we will not put you to death. What did the king say to you?’
26. then say to them, ‘I was presenting my plea to the king not to send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.’”
27. All the officials did come to Jeremiah and question him, and he answered them with exactly the words the king had commanded. So they said no more to him, for no one had overheard the conversation.
28. Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured. This is what happened when Jerusalem was captured:

## Nearby chapters

[Jeremiah 37](https://www.lumin.faith/read/jeremiah/37.md)
[Jeremiah 39](https://www.lumin.faith/read/jeremiah/39.md)

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