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CHAPTER 38
1 Forsooth Shephatiah, son of Mattan, and Gedaliah, son of Pashur, and Jucal, son of Shelemiah, and Pashur, son of Malchiah, heard the words which Jeremy spake to all the people, saying,
2 The Lord saith these things, Who-ever dwelleth in this city, shall die by sword, and hunger, and pestilence; but he that fleeth to [the] Chaldees, shall live, and his soul shall be whole and living.
3 The Lord saith these things, This city to be betaken shall be betaken into the hand of the host of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it.
4 And the princes said to the king, We pray, that this man be slain; for of before-casting he discomforteth or weakeneth the hands of men warriors, that dwelled in this city, and the hands of all the people, and speaketh to them by all these words. For why this man seeketh not peace to this people, but evil.
5 And king Zedekiah said, Lo! he is in your hands, for it is not leaveful that the king deny anything to you.
6 Therefore they took Jeremy, and casted him down into the pit of Malchiah, the son of Hammelech, which was in the porch of the prison; and they sent down Jeremy by cords into the pit, wherein was no water, but fen; therefore Jeremy went down into the filth.
7 Forsooth Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, a chaste man and honest, heard, that was in the king’s house, that they had sent Jeremy into the pit; soothly the king sat in the gate of Benjamin.
8 And Ebedmelech went out of the king’s house, and spake to the king, and said,
9 My lord the king, these men did evil all things, whatever things they did against Jeremy, the prophet, sending him into the pit, that he die there for hunger; for why loaves be no more in the city.
10 Therefore the king commanded to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, and said, Take with thee thirty men from hence, and raise thou [up] Jeremy, the prophet, from the pit, before that he die.
11 Therefore when Ebedmelech had taken men with him, he entered into the house of the king, that was under the cellar; and he took from thence old clothes, and old rags, that were rotten; and he sent them down to Jeremy, into the pit, by cords.
12 And Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said to Jeremy, Put thou [the] old clothes, and these rent and rotten things under the cubit of thine hands, and on the cords. Therefore Jeremy did so.
13 And they drew out Jeremy with cords, and led him out of the pit. Forsooth Jeremy dwelled in the porch of the prison.
14 And king Zedekiah sent, and took [to] him Jeremy, the prophet, at the third door that was in the house of the Lord. And the king said to Jeremy, I ask of thee a word; hide thou not anything from me.
15 Forsooth Jeremy said to Zedekiah, If I tell to thee, whether thou shalt not slay me? And if I give counsel to thee, thou shalt not hear me.
16 Therefore Zedekiah the king swore to Jeremy privily, and said, The Lord liveth, that made to us this soul, I shall not slay thee, and I shall not betake thee into the hands of these men, that seek thy life.
17 And Jeremy said to Zedekiah, The Lord of hosts, God of Israel, saith these things, If thou goest forth, and goest out to the princes of the king of Babylon, thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burnt with fire, and thou shalt be safe, thou and thine house.
18 Forsooth if thou goest not out to the princes of the king of Babylon, this city shall be betaken into the hands of Chaldees; and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape from the hand of them.
19 And king Zedekiah said to Jeremy, I am anguished for the Jews that fled over to [the] Chaldees, lest peradventure I be betaken into the hands of them, and they scorn me.
20 Forsooth Jeremy answered, and said to him, They shall not betake thee; I beseech, hear thou the voice of the Lord, which I shall speak to thee, and it shall be well to thee, and thy soul shall live.
21 That if thou wilt not go out, this is the word which the Lord showed to me,
22 Lo! all the women, that were left in the house of the king of Judah, shall be led out to the princes of the king of Babylon; and those women shall say, Thy peaceable men deceived thee, and had the mastery against thee; they drowned thee [down] in [the] filth, and thy feet in sliderness, and [they] went away from thee.
23 And all thy wives and thy sons shall be led out to [the] Chaldees, and thou shalt not escape the hands of them; but thou shalt be betaken into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn this city with fire.
24 Therefore Zedekiah said to Jeremy, No man know these words, and thou shalt not die.
25 Soothly if the princes hear, that I spake with thee, and they come to thee, and say to thee, Show thou to us what thou spakest with the king, hide thou not from us, and we shall not slay thee; and what the king spake with thee,
26 thou shalt say to them, Kneelingly I setted forth my prayers before the king, that he should not command me to be led again into the house of Jonathan, and I should die there.
27 Therefore all the princes came to Jeremy, and asked him, and he spake to them by all the words which the king had commanded to him, and they ceased from him; for why nothing was heard.
28 Therefore Jeremy dwelled in the porch of the prison, till to the day in which Jerusalem was taken; and it was done, that Jerusalem should be taken.

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© 2001,2010,2011,2012,2013,2015 Terry Noble