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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=1.0; maximum-scale=1.0; user-scalable=0;"/><title>Jeremiah 38 New American Bible</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="/bmcc/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/catholic">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NABRE</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">New American Bible Revised Edition</td><td width="1%" valign="top"></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><section id="ch30038" class="chapter"> <h1 id="cn30038" class="cn"></h1> <p class="pf"><span class="hemb">Jeremiah in the Muddy Cistern.</span> <span id="v30038001" class="ver">1</span>Shephatiah, son of Mattan, Gedaliah, son of Pashhur, Jucal, son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur, son of Malchiah, heard the words Jeremiah was speaking to all the people:<a id="rfn30038001-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn30038001-1">*</a> <span id="v30038002" class="ver">2</span>Thus says the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>: Those who remain in this city shall die by means of the sword, starvation, and disease; but those who go out to the Chaldeans shall live. Their lives shall be spared them as spoils of war that they may live.<a id="ren30038002-a" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en30038002-a">a</a> <span id="v30038003" class="ver">3</span>Thus says the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>: This city shall certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon; he shall capture it.</p> <p><span id="v30038004" class="ver">4</span>Then the princes said to the king, “This man ought to be put to death. He is weakening the resolve<a id="rfn30038004-1" class="fnref" href="footnotes.htm#fn30038004-1">*</a> of the soldiers left in this city and of all the people, by saying such things to them; he is not seeking the welfare of our people, but their ruin.”<a id="ren30038004-b" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en30038004-b">b</a> <span id="v30038005" class="ver">5</span>King Zedekiah answered: “He is in your hands,” for the king could do nothing with them. <span id="v30038006" class="ver">6</span>And so they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Prince Malchiah, in the court of the guard, letting him down by rope. There was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.<a id="ren30038006-c" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en30038006-c">c</a></p> <p><span id="v30038007" class="ver">7</span>Now Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian, a court official in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the cistern. The king happened to be sitting at the Gate of Benjamin, <span id="v30038008" class="ver">8</span>and Ebed-melech went there from the house of the king and said to him, <span id="v30038009" class="ver">9</span>“My lord king, these men have done wrong in all their treatment of Jeremiah the prophet, throwing him into the cistern. He will starve to death on the spot, for there is no more bread in the city.”<a id="ren30038009-d" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en30038009-d">d</a> <span id="v30038010" class="ver">10</span>Then the king ordered Ebed-melech the Ethiopian: “Take three men with you, and get Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.” <span id="v30038011" class="ver">11</span>Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went first to the linen closet in the house of the king. He took some old, tattered rags and lowered them by rope to Jeremiah in the cistern. <span id="v30038012" class="ver">12</span>Then he said to Jeremiah, “Put these old, tattered rags between your armpits and the ropes.” Jeremiah did so, <span id="v30038013" class="ver">13</span>and they pulled him up by rope out of the cistern. But Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.</p> <p><span id="v30038014" class="ver">14</span>King Zedekiah summoned Jeremiah the prophet to meet him at the third entrance of the house of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span>. “I have a question to ask you,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Do not hide anything from me.”<a id="ren30038014-e" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en30038014-e">e</a> <span id="v30038015" class="ver">15</span>Jeremiah answered Zedekiah: “If I tell you anything, will you not have me put to death? If I counsel you, you will not listen to me!”<a id="ren30038015-f" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en30038015-f">f</a> <span id="v30038016" class="ver">16</span>But King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah secretly: “As the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> lives who gave us our lives, I will not kill you, nor will I hand you over to those men who seek your life.”</p> <p><span id="v30038017" class="ver">17</span>Jeremiah then said to Zedekiah: “Thus says the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you will only surrender to the princes of Babylon’s king, you shall save your life; this city shall not be destroyed by fire, and you and your household shall live.<a id="ren30038017-g" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en30038017-g">g</a> <span id="v30038018" class="ver">18</span>But if you do not surrender to the princes of Babylon’s king, this city shall fall into the hand of the Chaldeans, who shall destroy it by fire, and you shall not escape their hand.”<a id="ren30038018-h" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en30038018-h">h</a></p> <p><span id="v30038019" class="ver">19</span>King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judahites who have deserted to the Chaldeans; I could be handed over to them, and they will mistreat me.”<a id="ren30038019-i" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en30038019-i">i</a> <span id="v30038020" class="ver">20</span>“You will not be handed over to them,” Jeremiah answered. “I beg you! Please listen to the voice of the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> regarding what I tell you so that it may go well with you and your life be spared.<a id="ren30038020-j" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en30038020-j">j</a> <span id="v30038021" class="ver">21</span>But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the <span class="tetr">Lord</span> has shown: <span id="v30038022" class="ver">22</span>I see all the women who remain in the house of Judah’s king being brought out to the princes of Babylon’s king, and they are crying:</p> <div class="senseline"> <p class="slf">‘They betrayed you, outdid you,</p> <p class="sl1">your good friends!</p> <p class="sl">Now that your feet are sunk in mud,</p> <p class="sl1l">they slink away.’<a id="ren30038022-k" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en30038022-k">k</a></p> </div> <p><span id="v30038023" class="ver">23</span>All your wives and children shall be brought out to the Chaldeans, and you shall not escape their hands; you shall be handed over to the king of Babylon, and this city shall be destroyed by fire.”<a id="ren30038023-l" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en30038023-l">l</a></p> <p><span id="v30038024" class="ver">24</span>Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know about this conversation, or you shall die. <span id="v30038025" class="ver">25</span>If the princes should hear I spoke with you and if they should come and ask you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king; do not hide it from us, or we will kill you,’ or, ‘What did the king say to you?’ <span id="v30038026" class="ver">26</span>then give them this answer: ‘I petitioned the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house lest I die there.’ ” <span id="v30038027" class="ver">27</span>When all the princes came to Jeremiah and questioned him, he answered them with the very words the king had commanded. They said no more to him, for nothing had been overheard of the conversation. <span id="v30038028" class="ver">28</span>Thus Jeremiah stayed in the court of the guard until the day Jerusalem was taken.<a id="ren30038028-m" class="enref" href="footnotes.htm#en30038028-m">m</a></p> </section> <br /><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="intro.htm"><span class="ac">Book Introduction</span></a></h1><h1 class="cn"><a class="xref" href="footnotes.htm"><span class="ac">Footnotes</span></a></h1></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the <i>New American Bible, revised edition</i> © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. 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