9. “My lord king, these men have done wrong in all their treatment of Jeremiah the prophet, throwing him into the cistern. He will starve to death on the spot, for there is no more bread in the city.”
10. Then the king ordered Ebed-melech the Ethiopian: “Take three men with you, and get Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”
11. Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went first to the linen closet in the house of the king. He took some old, tattered rags and lowered them by rope to Jeremiah in the cistern.
12. Then he said to Jeremiah, “Put these old, tattered rags between your armpits and the ropes.” Jeremiah did so,
13. and they pulled him up by rope out of the cistern. But Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
14. King Zedekiah summoned Jeremiah the prophet to meet him at the third entrance of the house of the Lord. “I have a question to ask you,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Do not hide anything from me.”
15. Jeremiah answered Zedekiah: “If I tell you anything, will you not have me put to death? If I counsel you, you will not listen to me!”