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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//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 GNT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></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="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">GNT</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">Good News Translation</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s">Jeremiah in a Dry Well</h3><p class="par"><span class="v24_38_1"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.1" class="v24_38_1">1</span>Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchiah heard that I was telling the people that </span><span class="v24_38_2"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.2" class="v24_38_2">2</span>the <span class="nd">Lord</span> had said, “Whoever stays on in the city will die in war or of starvation or disease. But those who go out and surrender to the Babylonians will not be killed; they will at least escape with their life.” </span><span class="v24_38_3"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.3" class="v24_38_3">3</span>I was also telling them that the <span class="nd">Lord</span> had said, “I am going to give the city to the Babylonian army, and they will capture it.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v24_38_4"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.4" class="v24_38_4">4</span>Then the officials went to the king and said, “This man must be put to death. By talking like this he is making the soldiers in the city lose their courage, and he is doing the same thing to everyone else left in the city. He is not trying to help the people; he only wants to hurt them.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v24_38_5"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.5" class="v24_38_5">5</span>King Zedekiah answered, “Very well, then, do what you want to with him; I can't stop you.” </span><span class="v24_38_6"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.6" class="v24_38_6">6</span>So they took me and let me down by ropes into Prince Malchiah's well, which was in the palace courtyard. There was no water in the well, only mud, and I sank down in it.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v24_38_7"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.7" class="v24_38_7">7</span>However, Ebedmelech the Ethiopian,<a href="#fn" id="link_Jer.38.7!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> a eunuch who worked in the royal palace, heard that they had put me in the well. At that time the king was holding court at the Benjamin Gate. </span><span class="v24_38_8"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.8" class="v24_38_8">8</span>So Ebedmelech went there and said to the king, </span><span class="v24_38_9"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.9" class="v24_38_9">9</span>“Your Majesty, what these men have done is wrong. They have put Jeremiah in the well, where he is sure to die of starvation, since there is no more food in the city.” </span><span class="v24_38_10"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.10" class="v24_38_10">10</span>Then the king ordered Ebedmelech to take with him three men and to pull me out of the well before I died. </span><span class="v24_38_11"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.11" class="v24_38_11">11</span>So Ebedmelech went with the men to the palace storeroom and got some worn-out clothing which he let down to me by ropes. </span><span class="v24_38_12"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.12" class="v24_38_12">12</span>He told me to put the rags under my arms, so that the ropes wouldn't hurt me. I did this, </span><span class="v24_38_13"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.13" class="v24_38_13">13</span>and they pulled me up out of the well. After that I was kept in the courtyard.</span></p><h3 class="s">Zedekiah Asks Jeremiah's Advice</h3><p class="par"><span class="v24_38_14"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.14" class="v24_38_14">14</span>On another occasion King Zedekiah had me brought to him at the third entrance to the Temple, and he said, “I am going to ask you a question, and I want you to tell me the whole truth.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v24_38_15"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.15" class="v24_38_15">15</span>I answered, “If I tell you the truth, you will put me to death, and if I give you advice, you won't pay any attention.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v24_38_16"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.16" class="v24_38_16">16</span>So King Zedekiah promised me in secret, “I swear by the living God, the God who gave us life, that I will not put you to death or hand you over to the men who want to kill you.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v24_38_17"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.17" class="v24_38_17">17</span>Then I told Zedekiah that the <span class="nd">Lord</span> Almighty, the God of Israel, had said, “If you surrender to the king of Babylonia's officers, your life will be spared, and this city will not be burned down. Both you and your family will be spared. </span><span class="v24_38_18"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.18" class="v24_38_18">18</span>But if you do not surrender, then this city will be handed over to the Babylonians, who will burn it down, and you will not escape from them.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v24_38_19"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.19" class="v24_38_19">19</span>But the king answered, “I am afraid of our own people who have deserted to the Babylonians. I may be handed over to them and tortured.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v24_38_20"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.20" class="v24_38_20">20</span>I said, “You will not be handed over to them. I beg you to obey the <span class="nd">Lord</span>'s message; then all will go well with you, and your life will be spared. </span><span class="v24_38_21"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.21" class="v24_38_21">21</span>But the <span class="nd">Lord</span> has shown me in a vision what will happen if you refuse to surrender. </span><span class="v24_38_22"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.22" class="v24_38_22">22</span>In it I saw all the women left in Judah's royal palace being led out to the king of Babylonia's officers. Listen to what they were saying as they went:</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_38_22">‘The king's best friends misled him,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_38_22">they overruled him.</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v24_38_22">And now that his feet have sunk in the mud,</span></p><p class="q2"><span class="v24_38_22">his friends have left him.’”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v24_38_23"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.23" class="v24_38_23">23</span>Then I added, “All your women and children will be taken out to the Babylonians, and you yourself will not escape from them. You will be taken prisoner by the king of Babylonia, and this city will be burned to the ground.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v24_38_24"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.24" class="v24_38_24">24</span>Zedekiah replied, “Don't let anyone know about this conversation, and your life will not be in danger. </span><span class="v24_38_25"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.25" class="v24_38_25">25</span>If the officials hear that I have talked with you, they will come and ask you what we said. They will promise not to put you to death if you tell them everything. </span><span class="v24_38_26"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.26" class="v24_38_26">26</span>Just tell them you were begging me not to send you back to prison to die there.” </span><span class="v24_38_27"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.27" class="v24_38_27">27</span>Then all the officials came and questioned me, and I told them exactly what the king had told me to say. There was nothing else they could do, because no one had overheard the conversation. </span><span class="v24_38_28"><span class="reftext" id="Jer.38.28" class="v24_38_28">28</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Jer.38.28!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> And I was kept in the palace courtyard until the day Jerusalem was captured.</span></p><a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">38.7: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Hebrew </char><char style="fq" closed="false">Cushite: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">Cush is the ancient name of the extensive territory south of the First Cataract of the Nile River. This region was called Ethiopia in Graeco-Roman times, and included within its borders most of modern Sudan and some of present-day Ethiopia (Abyssinia).</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.</span></p> <p class="yiv9003199930MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt;">Bible text from the Good News Translation (GNT) is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by American Bible Society, 101 North Independence Mall East, Floor 8, Philadelphia, PA 19106-2155 (<a href="http://www.americanbible.org">www.americanbible.org</a>). Learn more at <a href="http://www.gnt.bible">www.gnt.bible</a> . 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