The big picture
Babylon's siege continues around Jerusalem, Judah's capital, where Jeremiah is still a prisoner. His warning that surrender preserves life angers officials, who see it as weakening resistance. King Zedekiah lets them put the prophet in a muddy cistern. Ebed-melech, a court servant from Ethiopia, hears of the danger and acts to save him. A later private meeting gives the king another chance to hear God's word. His fear of humiliation, however, still stands between the warning and the choice that would preserve lives.
In this chapter
- The Officials Sink Jeremiah Into a Cistern Jeremiah 38:1-6
Four officials hear Jeremiah tell the people that staying in the city means death by war, hunger, or disease.
- A Court Servant Organises a Careful Rescue Jeremiah 38:7-13
Ebed-melech hears what has happened and goes from the palace to the king at a city gate.
- The King Swears Safety and Hears Two Outcomes Jeremiah 38:14-18
Zedekiah summons Jeremiah to a temple entrance and asks for a full answer.
- Fear of Mockery Blocks the Offered Path Jeremiah 38:19-23
The king admits that he fears people who have already gone over to Babylon.
- The Secret Is Kept and Confinement Continues Jeremiah 38:24-28
Zedekiah tells Jeremiah to keep the conversation hidden.
Central truth
Jeremiah is rescued through a servant's courage, but the king who hears his warning remains governed by fear of others.
Scripture beside the summary
Jeremiah · King James Version · 28Jeremiah 38:1-6
The Officials Sink Jeremiah Into a Cistern
Four officials hear Jeremiah tell the people that staying in the city means death by war, hunger, or disease. Those going out to the Chaldeans, Babylon's troops, will live. The city itself will fall. The officials ask the king to execute him because his words weaken soldiers and residents. They accuse him of seeking harm rather than welfare. Zedekiah yields, saying he cannot oppose them. They lower Jeremiah by ropes into a cistern in the prison court. It contains no water, only mud, and he sinks into it.
In everyday life
A detainee's caseworker reads the order that left him in unsafe isolation after officials called his warning harmful to morale. She traces who requested the action and who allowed it. Responsibility is not erased by passing the prisoner between offices. Jeremiah is endangered for conveying God's offered path to life, not merely an unpopular assessment.
Notice
Jeremiah 38:5 The king gives Jeremiah into the officials' hands while claiming inability to oppose them. His words reveal a surrender of responsibility, not ignorance of what they want.
Jeremiah 38:1-6
King James Version1Then 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 unto all the people, saying,
2Thus saith the LORD, He that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live.
3Thus saith the LORD, This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which shall take it.
4Therefore the princes said unto the king, We beseech thee, let this man be put to death: for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.
5Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you.
6Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.
Jeremiah 38:7-13
A Court Servant Organises a Careful Rescue
Ebed-melech hears what has happened and goes from the palace to the king at a city gate. He calls the officials' act evil and says Jeremiah will starve there as food runs out. The king orders him to take thirty men and lift the prophet out before he dies. Ebed-melech collects old cloth from beneath the palace treasury and lowers it with ropes. He tells Jeremiah to pad his armpits before being pulled up. The men raise him from the mud, and he remains in the prison court.
In everyday life
A maintenance porter hears that a frail tenant is trapped below a broken lift. He secures help and brings folded cloth to cushion the straps before the team raises her. Getting someone out requires attention to how the rescue touches the body. Ebed-melech also confronts a king over deliberate wrongdoing; the porter answers an accident.
Notice
Jeremiah 38:12 The old cloth goes beneath Jeremiah's arms under the ropes. This small instruction shows care for his body as well as urgency to remove him from danger.
Jeremiah 38:7-13
King James Version7Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs which was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin;
8Ebed-melech went forth out of the king’s house, and spake to the king, saying,
9My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city.
10Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die.
11So Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took thence old cast clouts and old rotten rags, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.
12And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now these old cast clouts and rotten rags under thine armholes under the cords. And Jeremiah did so.
13So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.
Jeremiah 38:14-18
The King Swears Safety and Hears Two Outcomes
Zedekiah summons Jeremiah to a temple entrance and asks for a full answer. The prophet asks whether truthful speech will bring death, and whether the king will actually heed advice. The king secretly swears not to kill him or hand him to his enemies. Jeremiah then repeats God's choice. If Zedekiah surrenders to Babylon's officials, he and his household will live, and the city will not burn. Refusal will bring capture and fire. The king has sworn to spare the speaker. He must now act to save the city.
In everyday life
A ship's captain privately asks an engineer for the full damage report and promises not to punish her answer. She explains the two available courses and the risks of refusing the safe one. Permission to speak is only the first step. Jeremiah offers outcomes declared by God, rather than a forecast based on a vessel's condition.
Notice
Jeremiah 38:16 The oath is secret. Zedekiah can promise personal safety in private, yet the next question is whether he will take the public step the warning requires.
Jeremiah 38:14-18
King James Version14Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took Jeremiah the prophet unto him into the third entry that is in the house of the LORD: and the king said unto Jeremiah, I will ask thee a thing; hide nothing from me.
15Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, If I declare it unto thee, wilt thou not surely put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, wilt thou not hearken unto me?
16So Zedekiah the king sware secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, As the LORD liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life.
17Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon’s princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live, and thine house:
18But if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand.
Jeremiah 38:19-23
Fear of Mockery Blocks the Offered Path
The king admits that he fears people who have already gone over to Babylon. He worries they will receive him and mock him. Jeremiah assures him that this will not happen and urges obedience so he lives. If he refuses, the palace women will be led out and blame the friends who misled him. They will picture him trapped in mud while those friends retreat. His wives and children will be taken, and he will not escape. He fears shame now. Refusing to act will bring far worse loss on his household and city.
In everyday life
A rescue coordinator listens as a stranded group leader refuses help because former teammates at the shelter will see him arrive. He is more ready to face the worsening conditions than their imagined remarks. She names the people who depend on his decision. Zedekiah's choice concerns surrender under God's word and the fate of a whole city.
Notice
Jeremiah 38:22 The women picture the king's feet sinking in mud. Jeremiah has already experienced actual mud, while the king is warned of entrapment through the advice he trusts.
Jeremiah 38:19-23
King James Version19And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me.
20But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the LORD, which I speak unto thee: so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live.
21But if thou refuse to go forth, this is the word that the LORD hath shewed me:
22And, behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah’s house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, and those women shall say, Thy friends have set thee on, and have prevailed against thee: thy feet are sunk in the mire, and they are turned away back.
23So they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans: and thou shalt not escape out of their hand, but shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire.
Jeremiah 38:24-28
The Secret Is Kept and Confinement Continues
Zedekiah tells Jeremiah to keep the conversation hidden. If officials question him, he is to say he asked not to be sent back to the former prison house, where he feared death. The officials do come and ask. Jeremiah gives the account the king instructed, and they stop questioning because the wider matter remains unknown. He stays in the prison court until the day the city falls. The secret is kept. But the king has not taken the offered path. He still does not surrender.
In everyday life
A protected witness answers colleagues' questions with the limited account agreed at a confidential meeting. Their curiosity ends, but the decision discussed there still awaits action from the official responsible. Keeping the meeting private has not solved the larger danger. Jeremiah remains confined until a divinely warned siege ends in the city's capture.
Notice
Jeremiah 38:28 Jeremiah stays in the court until the capture. The closing date measures the limit of the king's private conversation: the city still reaches the disaster announced.
Jeremiah 38:24-28
King James Version24Then said Zedekiah unto Jeremiah, Let no man know of these words, and thou shalt not die.
25But if the princes hear that I have talked with thee, and they come unto thee, and say unto thee, Declare unto us now what thou hast said unto the king, hide it not from us, and we will not put thee to death; also what the king said unto thee:
26Then thou shalt say unto them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan’s house, to die there.
27Then came all the princes unto Jeremiah, and asked him: and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they left off speaking with him; for the matter was not perceived.
28So Jeremiah abode in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken: and he was there when Jerusalem was taken.
Details worth noticing
The opening image
Jeremiah 38:1 begins with “Then 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…”
Where the chapter turns
Jeremiah 38:14 forms a natural hinge: “Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took Jeremiah the prophet unto him into the third entry that is in the house of the LORD: and the king said unto Jeremiah…”
The final note
Jeremiah 38:28 leaves the reader with “So Jeremiah abode in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken: and he was there when Jerusalem was taken.”
A word trail through the chapter
The words Jeremiah, king, hand, LORD, city, dungeon help reveal the chapter’s repeated concerns.
KJV words made clear
- mire
- Thick wet mud in which a person can sink.
- clouts
- Pieces of worn cloth used here to pad the rescue ropes.
- prey
- A gain carried away, here life preserved while other security is lost.
Music and video connected to the passage
Related media appears when its Scripture reference overlaps this study. Music and video can illuminate a theme while the biblical text remains the foundation.
