7. But Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, an important court official, heard that Jeremiah was in the cistern. At that time the king was holding court at the Benjamin Gate,
8. so Ebed-melech rushed from the palace to speak with him.
9. “My lord the king,” he said, “these men have done a very evil thing in putting Jeremiah the prophet into the cistern. He will soon die of hunger, for almost all the bread in the city is gone.”
10. So the king told Ebed-melech, “Take thirty of my men with you, and pull Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies.”
11. So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to a room in the palace beneath the treasury, where he found some old rags and discarded clothing. He carried these to the cistern and lowered them to Jeremiah on a rope.
12. Ebed-melech called down to Jeremiah, “Put these rags under your armpits to protect you from the ropes.” Then when Jeremiah was ready,
13. they pulled him out. So Jeremiah was returned to the courtyard of the guard—the palace prison—where he remained.
14. One day King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah and had him brought to the third entrance of the lord’s Temple. “I want to ask you something,” the king said. “And don’t try to hide the truth.”
15. Jeremiah said, “If I tell you the truth, you will kill me. And if I give you advice, you won’t listen to me anyway.”
16. So King Zedekiah secretly promised him, “As surely as the lord our Creator lives, I will not kill you or hand you over to the men who want you dead.”
17. Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the lord God of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the Babylonian officers, you and your family will live, and the city will not be burned down.
18. But if you refuse to surrender, you will not escape! This city will be handed over to the Babylonians, and they will burn it to the ground.’”