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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>Jeremiah 38 ESV</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/jeremiah/38.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/jeremiah/38-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">ESV</a> > Jeremiah 38</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../jeremiah/37.htm" title="Jeremiah 37">◄</a> Jeremiah 38 <a href="../jeremiah/39.htm" title="Jeremiah 39">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">English Standard Version</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/esv/nas/jeremiah/38.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></tr></table></div></a><div class="chap"><p class="heading">Jeremiah Cast into the Cistern</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah was saying to all the people: <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>“Thus says the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>: He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live. He shall have his life as a prize of war, and live. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>Thus says the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>: This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and be taken.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>Then the officials said to the king, “Let this man be put to death, for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your hands, for the king can do nothing against you.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span>So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.</p> <p class="heading">Jeremiah Rescued from the Cistern</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span>When Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern—the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate— <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span>Ebed-melech went from the king’s house and said to the king, <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>“My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet by casting him into the cistern, and he will die there of hunger, for there is no bread left in the city.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, “Take thirty men with you from here, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span>So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to the house of the king, to a wardrobe in the storehouse, and took from there old rags and worn-out clothes, which he let down to Jeremiah in the cistern by ropes. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span>Then Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Put the rags and clothes between your armpits and the ropes.” Jeremiah did so. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span>Then they drew Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.</p> <p class="heading">Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah Again</p><p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span>King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and received him at the third entrance of the temple of the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>. The king said to Jeremiah, “I will ask you a question; hide nothing from me.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span>Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span>Then King Zedekiah swore secretly to Jeremiah, “As the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> lives, who made our souls, I will not put you to death or deliver you into the hand of these men who seek your life.”</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span>Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span>, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you will surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span>But if you do not surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span>King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest I be handed over to them and they deal cruelly with me.” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span>Jeremiah said, “You shall not be given to them. Obey now the voice of the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> in what I say to you, and it shall be well with you, and your life shall be spared. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span>But if you refuse to surrender, this is the vision which the <span class="divine-name">Lord</span> has shown to me: <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>Behold, all the women left in the house of the king of Judah were being led out to the officials of the king of Babylon and were saying,</p><span class="block-indent"><p class="line-group"><span class="ln-group">“‘Your trusted friends have deceived you</span><br /><span class="indent">and prevailed against you;</span><br /><span class="ln-group">now that your feet are sunk in the mud,</span><br /><span class="indent">they turn away from you.’</span></p> <p class="same-paragraph"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>All your wives and your sons shall be led out to the Chaldeans, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand, but shall be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city shall be burned with fire.”</p> <p class="regular"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>If the officials hear that I have spoken with you and come to you and say to you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; hide nothing from us and we will not put you to death,’ <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>then you shall say to them, ‘I made a humble plea to the king that he would not send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.’” <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and asked him, and he answered them as the king had instructed him. So they stopped speaking with him, for the conversation had not been overheard. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/jeremiah/38-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.</p></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">ESV Text Edition® (2016).<br /><br />The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by <a href="http://www.crossway.org/home/esv/">Crossway Bibles</a>, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.<br /><br />The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) is adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. 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