Jeremiah 45

1 Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, and Jehucal son of Shelemiah heard the words Jeremiah was speaking to the people: [a] 2 “This is what the Lord says: Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword and by famine, but whoever goes out to the Chaldeans will live; his life will be his prize, and he will live.” 3 “For this is what the Lord says: This city will surely be handed over into the hands of the army of the king of Babylon, and he will take it.” 4 And they said to the king, “Please have that man put to death, because he is weakening the hands of the fighting men who are left in the city and the hands of all the people by speaking these words to them. This man is not prophesying peace for this people — only harm.” 5 The king said, “Look, he is in your hands,” for the king could do nothing against them. 6 So they threw him into the cistern of Malchiah the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They let him down into the cistern, and there was no water in the cistern, only mud, and he was in the mud.

7 Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. The king was sitting at the Benjamin Gate, 8 and Ebed-melech went out to him and spoke to the king: 9 “You have done wrong in what you have done — to kill this man by starvation, for there is no more bread in the city.” 10 The king commanded Ebed-melech, “Take thirty men with you from here, and bring him up out of the cistern before he dies.” 11 So Ebed-melech took the men and went into the king’s house, to the room underground, and took old rags and old ropes from there and threw them down to Jeremiah in the cistern. 12 He said, “Put these under the ropes.” And Jeremiah did so. 13 They pulled him up with the ropes and brought him up out of the cistern, and Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the guard.

14 Then the king sent and had him brought to him at the Aselisi house, which was in the house of the Lord, and the king said to him, “I am going to ask you something. Do not hide anything from me.” [b] 15 Jeremiah said to the king, “If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I advise you, you will not listen to me.” 16 The king swore to him, “As the Lord lives, who made this soul for us, I will not put you to death, and I will not give you into the hands of these men.” 17 Then Jeremiah said to him, “This is what the Lord says: If you will go out to the commanders of the king of Babylon, your life will live, and this city will not be burned with fire; you and your household will live.” 18 “But if you do not go out, this city will be handed over into the hands of the Chaldeans, and they will burn it with fire, and you will not be rescued.” 19 The king said to Jeremiah, “I am worried about the Jews who have deserted to the Chaldeans — that I will be handed over to them and they will mock me.” 20 Jeremiah said, “They will not hand you over. Listen to the word of the Lord that I am speaking to you, and it will go better for you, and your life will live.” 21 “But if you refuse to go out, this is the word the Lord has shown me:” 22 “Look, all the women left in the house of the king of Judah were being led out to the rulers of the king of Babylon, and they were saying, Your men of peace deceived you and got the better of you; they have brought your feet down in slippery places; they have turned away from you.” 23 “They will bring your wives and your children out to the Chaldeans, and you will not be rescued; you will be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned.”

24 Then the king said to him, “Let no one know any of these words, and you will not die.” 25 “If the rulers hear that I have spoken with you and come to you and say, Tell us what the king said to you — do not hide it from us, and we will not kill you — and what did the king say to you?” 26 “then say to them, I was laying my plea for mercy before the king, that he not send me back to Jonathan’s house to die there.” 27 All the rulers did come to Jeremiah and question him, and he told them everything exactly as the king had commanded him. And they fell silent, because the word of the Lord had not been heard. [c] 28 And Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the guard until the time Jerusalem was taken.