The Lord says, “Do what is just and right. Deliver those who have been robbed from those who oppress them. Do not exploit or mistreat foreigners who live in your land, children who have no fathers, or widows. Do not kill innocent people in this land.

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.

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.”

But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, “Do not do that because what you are saying about Ishmael is not true.”

Jeremiah recorded on one scroll all the judgments that would come upon Babylon – all these prophecies written about Babylon.

Do not be afraid of those to whom I send you, for I will be with you to protect you,” says the Lord.

They are like lusty, well-fed stallions. Each of them lusts after his neighbor’s wife.

The Lord commanded the enemy, “March through the vineyards of Israel and Judah and ruin them. But do not destroy them completely. Strip off their branches for these people do not belong to the Lord.

“Hear the terms of the covenant I made with Israel and pass them on to the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem.

Not one of them will survive. I will bring disaster on those men from Anathoth who threatened you. A day of reckoning is coming for them.”

The Lord spoke to Jeremiah about the drought.

Then the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for good to come to these people!

Cursed be the day I was born! May that day not be blessed when my mother gave birth to me.

Each of you should merely ask the prophet, ‘What answer did the Lord give you? Or what did the Lord say?’

Then some of the elders of Judah stepped forward and spoke to all the people gathered there. They said,

So here is what the Lord has to say about Israel and Judah.

The Lord spoke to Jeremiah a second time while he was still confined in the courtyard of the guardhouse.

The prophet Jeremiah told all this to King Zedekiah of Judah in Jerusalem.

Ebed Melech departed the palace and went to speak to the king. He said to him,

Johanan and all the officers of the troops that had been hiding in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah.