37 And King Zedekiah the son of Josiah began to reign in place of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. 2 And he himself and his servants and the people of the land did not listen to the words of Jehovah that he spoke by means of Jeremiah the prophet.

3 And King Zedekiah proceeded to send Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to Jeremiah the prophet, saying: “Pray, please, in our behalf to Jehovah our God.” 4 And Jeremiah was coming in and going out into the midst of the people, as they had not put him in the house of detention. 5 And there was a military force of Pharaoh that came out of Egypt; and the Chaldeans that were laying siege to Jerusalem got to hear the report about them. So they withdrew from against Jerusalem. 6 Then the word of Jehovah occurred to Jeremiah the prophet, saying: 7 “This is what Jehovah the God of Israel has said, ‘This is what YOU men should say to the king of Judah, the one sending YOU to me to inquire of me: “Look! The military force of Pharaoh that is coming forth to YOU people for the purpose of assistance will have to go back to their land, Egypt. 8 And the Chaldeans will certainly come back and fight against this city and capture it and burn it with fire.” 9 This is what Jehovah has said: “Do not deceive YOUR souls, saying, ‘The Chaldeans will without fail go away from against us,’ because they will not go away. 10 For if YOU men had struck down all the military force of the Chaldeans who are fighting YOU and there remained over among them men pierced through, they would each one in his tent rise up and actually burn this city with fire.”’”

11 And it occurred when the military force of the Chaldeans had withdrawn themselves from against Jerusalem because of the military force of Pharaoh, 12 that Jeremiah began to go forth from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin and to get [his] portion from there in the midst of the people. 13 So it came about when he was in the Gate of Benjamin that the officer holding the oversight, whose name was Irijah the son of Shelemiah the son of Hananiah, was there. At once he took hold of Jeremiah the prophet, saying: “It is to the Chaldeans that you are falling away!” 14 But Jeremiah said: “It is false! I am not falling away to the Chaldeans.” But he did not listen to him. So Irijah kept hold of Jeremiah and brought him in to the princes. 15 And the princes began to get indignant at Jeremiah, and they struck him and put him into the house of fetters, in the house of Jehonathan the secretary, for this was what they had made the house of detention. 16 When Jeremiah came into the house of the cistern and into the vaulted rooms, then Jeremiah continued dwelling there many days.

17 And King Zedekiah proceeded to send and take him, and the king began asking him questions in his house in a place of concealment. And he went on to say: “Does there exist a word from Jehovah?” To this Jeremiah said: “There does exist!” And he said further: “Into the hand of the king of Babylon you will be given!”

18 Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah: “In what way have I sinned against you and against your servants and against this people, so that YOU men have put me into the house of detention? 19 Where, now, are YOUR prophets who prophesied to YOU, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against YOU men and against this land’? 20 And now listen, please, O my lord the king. May my request for favor, please, fall before you, and do not send me back to the house of Jehonathan the secretary, that I may not die there.” 21 Accordingly King Zedekiah commanded, and they then put Jeremiah in custody in the Courtyard of the Guard; and there was a giving of a round loaf of bread to him daily from the street of the bakers, until all the bread was exhausted from the city. And Jeremiah continued dwelling in the Courtyard of the Guard.

38 And Shephatiah the son of Mattan and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur and Jucal the son of Shelemiah and Pashhur the son of Malchijah got to hear the words that Jeremiah was speaking to all the people, saying: 2 “This is what Jehovah has said, ‘The one continuing to dwell in this city is the one that will die by the sword, by the famine and by the pestilence. But the one going out to the Chaldeans is the one that will keep living and that will certainly come to have his soul as a spoil and alive.’ 3 This is what Jehovah has said, ‘Without fail this city will be given into the hand of the military force of the king of Babylon, and he will certainly capture it.’”

4 And the princes began to say to the king: “Let this man, please, be put to death, for that is how he is weakening the hands of the men of war who are left remaining in this city and the hands of all the people, by speaking to them according to these words. For this man is one seeking not for the peace of this people but for calamity.” 5 So King Zedekiah said: “Look! He is in YOUR hands. For there is nothing at all in which the king himself can prevail against YOU.”

6 And they proceeded to take Jeremiah and throw him into the cistern of Malchijah the son of the king, which was in the Courtyard of the Guard. So they let Jeremiah down by means of ropes. Now in the cistern there was no water, but mire; and Jeremiah began to sink down into the mire.

7 And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a man who was a eunuch and who was in the house of the king, got to hear that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern; and the king was sitting in the Gate of Benjamin. 8 So Ebed-melech went out of the house of the king and spoke to the king, saying: 9 “O my lord the king, these men have done bad in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have thrown into the cistern, so that he will die where he is because of the famine. For there is no bread anymore in the city.”

10 Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying: “Take in your charge from this place thirty men, and you must get Jeremiah the prophet up out of the cistern before he dies.” 11 Accordingly Ebed-melech took the men in his charge and went into the house of the king to beneath the treasury and took from there worn-out rags and worn-out pieces of cloth and let them down to Jeremiah into the cistern by means of the ropes. 12 Then Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah: “Put, please, the worn-out rags and the pieces of cloth under your armpits beneath the ropes.” Jeremiah now did so. 13 Finally they drew out Jeremiah by means of the ropes and brought him up out of the cistern. And Jeremiah continued to dwell in the Courtyard of the Guard.

14 And King Zedekiah proceeded to send and take Jeremiah the prophet to him to the third entryway, which is in the house of Jehovah, and then the king said to Jeremiah: “I am asking something of you. Do not hide from me anything.” 15 At this Jeremiah said to Zedekiah: “In case I should tell you, will you not without fail put me to death? And in case I advise you, you will not listen to me.” 16 At that King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in the place of concealment, saying: “As Jehovah is alive, who has made for us this soul, I will not put you to death, and I will not give you into the hand of these men who are seeking for your soul.”

17 Jeremiah now said to Zedekiah: “This is what Jehovah, the God of armies, the God of Israel, has said, ‘If you will without fail go out to the princes of the king of Babylon, your soul will also certainly keep living and this city itself will not be burned with fire, and you yourself and your household will certainly keep living. 18 But if you will not go out to the princes of the king of Babylon, this city must also be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they will actually burn it with fire, and you yourself will not escape out of their hand.’”

19 Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah: “I am in fright of the Jews that have fallen away to the Chaldeans, for fear that they might give me into their hand and they might actually deal abusively with me.” 20 But Jeremiah said: “They will do no such giving. Obey, please, the voice of Jehovah in what I am speaking to you, and it will go well with you, and your soul will continue to live. 21 But if you are refusing to go out, this is the thing that Jehovah has caused me to see: 22 And, look! all the women that have been left remaining in the house of the king of Judah are being brought out to the princes of the king of Babylon, and they are saying,

‘The men at peace with you have allured you and prevailed over you.

They have caused your foot to sink down into the very ooze; they have retreated in the opposite direction.’

23 And all your wives and your sons they are bringing out to the Chaldeans, and you yourself will not escape out of their hand, but by the hand of the king of Babylon you will be seized, and because of you this city will be burned with fire.”

24 And Zedekiah proceeded to say to Jeremiah: “May no man at all get to know about these things, so that you do not die. 25 And in case the princes hear that I have spoken with you and they actually come in to you and say to you, ‘Do tell us, please, What did you speak about to the king? Do not hide anything from us, and we shall not put you to death. And what did the king speak about to you?’ 26 you must also say to them, ‘I was letting my request for favor fall before the king, that he should not send me back to the house of Jehonathan to die there.’”

27 In time all the princes came in to Jeremiah and began questioning him. In turn, he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they became silent before him, for the matter was not heard. 28 And Jeremiah continued to dwell in the Courtyard of the Guard until the day that Jerusalem was captured. And it occurred just when Jerusalem was captured.

39 In the ninth year of Zedekiah the king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon and all his military force came to Jerusalem and began to lay siege to it.

2 In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the city was broken through. 3 And all the princes of the king of Babylon proceeded to come in and sit down in the Middle Gate, [namely,] Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag and all the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon.

4 Now it came about that as soon as Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, they began to run away and to go out by night from the city by the way of the garden of the king, by the gate between the double wall; and they kept going out by the way of the Arabah. 5 And a military force of the Chaldeans went chasing after them, and they got to overtake Zedekiah in the desert plains of Jericho. Then they took him and brought him up to Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath that he might pronounce upon him judicial decisions. 6 And the king of Babylon proceeded to slaughter the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes, and all the nobles of Judah the king of Babylon slaughtered. 7 And the eyes of Zedekiah he blinded, after which he bound him with copper fetters, in order to bring him to Babylon.

8 And the house of the king and the houses of the people the Chaldeans burned with fire, and the walls of Jerusalem they pulled down. 9 And the rest of the people who were left remaining in the city, and the deserters that had fallen away to him, and the rest of the people who were left remaining Nebuzaradan the chief of the bodyguard took into exile to Babylon.
      10 And some of the people, the lowly ones who had nothing at all, Nebuzaradan the chief of the bodyguard let remain in the land of Judah; and he went on to give them vineyards and compulsory services on that day.
      11 Furthermore, Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon gave command concerning Jeremiah by means of Nebuzaradan the chief of the bodyguard, saying: 12 “Take him and keep your own eyes set upon him, and do not do to him anything bad at all. But just as he may speak to you, so do with him.”
      13 Accordingly Nebuzaradan the chief of the bodyguard and Nebushazban the Rabsaris, and Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag and all the principal men of the king of Babylon sent; 14 they even proceeded to send and take Jeremiah out of the Courtyard of the Guard and give him over to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, in order to bring him forth to [his] house, that he might dwell in the midst of the people.

15 And to Jeremiah the word of Jehovah occurred while he happened to be shut up in the Courtyard of the Guard, saying: 16 “Go, and you must say to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, ‘This is what Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel, has said: “Here I am bringing true my words upon this city for calamity and not for good, and they will certainly happen before you in that day.”’
      17 “‘And I will deliver you in that day,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘and you will not be given into the hand of the men of whom you yourself are scared.’
      18 “‘For I shall without fail furnish you an escape, and by the sword you will not fall; and you will certainly come to have your soul as a spoil, because you have trusted in me,’ is the utterance of Jehovah.”