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Text -- Jeremiah 38:5-28 (NET)
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Context
38:5 King Zedekiah said to them, “Very well, you can do what you want with him. For I cannot do anything to stop you.”
38:6 So the officials took Jeremiah and put him in the cistern of Malkijah , one of the royal princes , that was in the courtyard of the guardhouse . There was no water in the cistern, only mud . So when they lowered Jeremiah into the cistern with ropes he sank in the mud .
An Ethiopian Official Rescues Jeremiah from the Cistern
38:7 An Ethiopian , Ebed Melech , a court official in the royal palace , heard that Jeremiah had been put in the cistern . While the king was holding court at the Benjamin Gate ,
38:8 Ebed Melech departed the palace and went to speak to the king . He said to him,
38:9 “Your royal Majesty , those men have been very wicked in all that they have done to the prophet Jeremiah . They have thrown him into a cistern and he is sure to die of starvation there because there is no food left in the city .
38:10 Then the king gave Ebed Melech the Ethiopian the following order: “Take thirty men with you from here and go pull the prophet Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies .”
38:11 So Ebed Melech took the men with him and went to a room under the treasure room in the palace . He got some worn-out clothes and old rags from there and let them down by ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern .
38:12 Ebed Melech called down to Jeremiah , “Put these rags and worn-out clothes under your armpits to pad the ropes . Jeremiah did as Ebed Melech instructed .
38:13 So they pulled Jeremiah up from the cistern with ropes . Jeremiah , however, still remained confined to the courtyard of the guardhouse .
Jeremiah Responds to Zedekiah’s Request for Secret Advice
38:14 Some time later Zedekiah sent and had Jeremiah brought to him at the third entrance of the Lord’s temple . The king said to Jeremiah , “I would like to ask you a question . Do not hide anything from me when you answer.”
38:15 Jeremiah said to Zedekiah , “If I answer you, you will certainly kill me. If I give you advice , you will not listen to me.”
38:16 So King Zedekiah made a secret promise to Jeremiah and sealed it with an oath. He promised , “As surely as the Lord lives who has given us life and breath , I promise you this : I will not kill you or hand you over to those men who want to kill you.”
38:17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah , “The Lord , the God who rules over all , the God of Israel , says , ‘You must surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon . If you do, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned down . Indeed, you and your whole family will be spared .
38:18 But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon , this city will be handed over to the Babylonians and they will burn it down . You yourself will not escape from them.’”
38:19 Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah , “I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Babylonians . The Babylonians might hand me over to them and they will torture me.”
38:20 Then Jeremiah answered , “You will not be handed over to them. Please obey the Lord by doing what I have been telling you. Then all will go well with you and your life will be spared .
38:21 But if you refuse to surrender , the Lord has shown me a vision of what will happen. Here is what I saw:
38:22 All the women who are left in the royal palace of Judah will be led out to the officers of the king of Babylon . They will taunt you saying , ‘Your trusted friends misled you; they have gotten the best of you. Now that your feet are stuck in the mud , they have turned their backs on you.’
38:23 “All your wives and your children will be turned over to the Babylonians . You yourself will not escape from them but will be captured by the king of Babylon . This city will be burned down .”
38:24 Then Zedekiah told Jeremiah , “Do not let anyone know about the conversation we have had. If you do, you will die .
38:25 The officials may hear that I have talked with you. They may come to you and say , ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you. Do not hide anything from us. If you do, we will kill you.’
38:26 If they do this, tell them, ‘I was pleading with the king not to send me back to die in the dungeon of Jonathan’s house .’”
38:27 All the officials did indeed come and question Jeremiah . He told them exactly what the king had instructed him to say. They stopped questioning him any further because no one had actually heard their conversation .
The Fall of Jerusalem and Its Aftermath
38:28 So Jeremiah remained confined in the courtyard of the guardhouse until the day Jerusalem was captured . The following events occurred when Jerusalem was captured .
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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Names, People and Places:
Dictionary Themes and Topics:
Zedekiah |
Malice |
Prisoners |
Ebed-Melech |
Jeremiah |
ZEDEKIAH (2) |
PASHHUR, PASHUR |
Ethiopia |
God |
Eunuch |
Minister |
Intercession |
Foreknowledge of God |
King |
ETHIOPIAN |
Hammelech |
Dungeon |
RAG |
ROT; ROTTENNESS |
Rulers |
more
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes -> Jer 38:5; Jer 38:5; Jer 38:6; Jer 38:6; Jer 38:6; Jer 38:6; Jer 38:7; Jer 38:7; Jer 38:7; Jer 38:9; Jer 38:9; Jer 38:10; Jer 38:11; Jer 38:11; Jer 38:12; Jer 38:12; Jer 38:12; Jer 38:13; Jer 38:14; Jer 38:14; Jer 38:14; Jer 38:15; Jer 38:16; Jer 38:16; Jer 38:16; Jer 38:17; Jer 38:17; Jer 38:18; Jer 38:18; Jer 38:18; Jer 38:19; Jer 38:19; Jer 38:20; Jer 38:20; Jer 38:22; Jer 38:22; Jer 38:22; Jer 38:23; Jer 38:23; Jer 38:23; Jer 38:24; Jer 38:24; Jer 38:24; Jer 38:25; Jer 38:25; Jer 38:26; Jer 38:26; Jer 38:26; Jer 38:27; Jer 38:27; Jer 38:27; Jer 38:28; Jer 38:28; Jer 38:28; Jer 38:28
NET Notes: Jer 38:5 Heb “For the king cannot do a thing with/against you.” The personal pronoun “I” is substituted in the English translation due ...
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NET Notes: Jer 38:6 Heb “And they let Jeremiah down with ropes and in the cistern there was no water, only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.” The clauses hav...
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NET Notes: Jer 38:7 Heb “And the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate.” This clause is circumstantial to the following clause; thus “while the king was...
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NET Notes: Jer 38:9 “Because there isn’t any food left in the city” is rhetorical exaggeration; the food did not run out until just before the city fell...
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NET Notes: Jer 38:10 Some modern English versions (e.g., NRSV, REB, TEV) and commentaries read “three” on the basis that thirty men would not be necessary for ...
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NET Notes: Jer 38:12 Or “Jeremiah did so.” The alternate translation is what the text reads literally.
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NET Notes: Jer 38:13 Heb “Jeremiah remained/stayed in the courtyard of the guardhouse.” The translation is meant to better reflect the situation; i.e., Jeremia...
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NET Notes: Jer 38:14 The words “when you answer” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection. They are supplied in the translation for the sake of c...
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NET Notes: Jer 38:15 Or “you will most certainly kill me, won’t you?” Heb “Will you not certainly kill me?” The question is rhetorical and ex...
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NET Notes: Jer 38:17 Heb “Your life/soul will live.” The quote is a long condition-consequence sentence with compound consequential clauses. It reads, “I...
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NET Notes: Jer 38:18 Zedekiah held out this hope of escape until the end and attempted to do so but was unsuccessful (cf. 39:4-5).
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NET Notes: Jer 38:19 Or “and they will badly abuse me.” For the usage of this verb in the situation presupposed see Judg 19:25 and 1 Sam 31:4.
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NET Notes: Jer 38:20 Heb “your life [or you yourself] will live.” Compare v. 17 and the translator’s note there for the idiom.
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NET Notes: Jer 38:22 The taunt song here refers to the fact that Zedekiah had been incited into rebellion by pro-Egyptian nobles in his court who prevailed on him to seek ...
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NET Notes: Jer 38:23 This translation follows the reading of the Greek version and a few Hebrew mss. The majority of the Hebrew mss read “and you will burn down this...
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NET Notes: Jer 38:24 This is probably not a threat that the king himself will kill Jeremiah, but a premonition that if the pro-Egyptian party that was seeking to kill Jere...
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NET Notes: Jer 38:25 Or “lest we kill you”; Heb “and we will not kill you,” which as stated in the translator’s note on 37:20 introduces a ne...
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NET Notes: Jer 38:27 Heb “And they were silent from him because the word/matter [i.e., the conversation between Jeremiah and the king] had not been heard.” Acc...
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