1Then Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people. He said,
2"This is what the LORD 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. His life will be his prize, and he will live."
3"This is what the LORD says: this city will surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and they will take it."
4So the princes said to the king, "We beg you, let this man be put to death. By speaking such words to them he weakens the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people. This man does not seek the good of this people, but their harm."
5Then King Zedekiah said, "Look, he is in your hand. The king can do nothing against you."
6So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the pit of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, which was in the court of the prison. They let Jeremiah down with ropes. There was no water in the pit, only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.
7Now Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, one of the officers in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the pit. The king was then sitting in the gate of Benjamin.
8So Ebedmelech went out of the king's house and spoke to the king. He said,
9"My lord the king, these men have done evil in everything they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have thrown him into the pit, and he is likely to die of hunger where he is, for there is no more bread in the city."
10Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, "Take thirty men with you from here, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the pit before he dies."
11So Ebedmelech took the men with him and went into the king's house, to a place under the treasury. He took from there old cast-off clothes and old rotten rags, and let them down by ropes into the pit to Jeremiah.
12Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, "Put these old cast-off clothes and rotten rags under your armpits, under the ropes." Jeremiah did so.
13So they pulled Jeremiah up with the ropes and lifted him out of the pit. And Jeremiah stayed in the court of the prison.
14Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to the third entrance in the house of the LORD. The king said to Jeremiah, "I will ask you something. Hide nothing from me."
15Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you advice, will you not listen to me?"
16So King Zedekiah swore secretly to Jeremiah, "As the LORD lives, who made this soul of ours, I will not put you to death, and I will not hand you over to these men who want to kill you."
17Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "This is what the LORD says, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: if you will indeed go out to the princes of the king of Babylon, then your soul will live, and this city will not be burned with fire. You and your household will live."
18"But if you will not go out to the princes of the king of Babylon, then this city will be given into the hand of the Chaldeans. They will burn it with fire, and you will not escape out of their hand."
19King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "I am afraid of the Jews who have gone over to the Chaldeans. They may hand me over to them, and they will mock me."
20But Jeremiah said, "They will not hand you over. Obey, I beg you, the voice of the LORD in what I am telling you. Then it will go well with you, and your soul will live."
21"But if you refuse to go out, this is the word that the LORD has shown me:"
22"Look, all the women who are left in the house of the king of Judah will be brought out to the princes of the king of Babylon. And those women will say, 'Your friends have led you on, and have overcome you. Your feet are sunk in the mud, and they have turned away and left you.'"
23"So they will bring out all your wives and your children to the Chaldeans. You yourself will not escape out of their hand, but will be caught by the hand of the king of Babylon. And you will cause this city to be burned with fire."
24Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "Let no one know about these words, and you will not die."
25"But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say, 'Tell us now what you said to the king, and what the king said to you. Do not hide it from us, and we will not put you to death,'"
26"then you will say to them, 'I laid my plea before the king, that he would not send me back to Jonathan's house to die there.'"
27Then all the princes came to Jeremiah and questioned him. He told them just as the king had commanded. So they stopped speaking with him, for the matter was not found out.