1 Jeremiah, by a false suggestion, is put into the dungeon of Malchiah.
7 Edeb-melech, by suit, gets him some enlargement.
14 Upon secret conference, he counsels the king by yielding to save his life.
24 By the king's instructions he conceals the conference from the princes.

Shephatiah. Ezr 2:3 Ne 7:9

Jucal. 37:4

Jehucal.
Pashur. 21:1-10

Melchiah. 1Ch 9:12

Malchijah. Ne 11:12

heard. Ac 4:1,2,6-10 5:28

2 Thus 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.

He. 17-23 21:8,9 24:8 27:13 29:18 34:17 42:17,22 44:13 Eze 5:12-17 6:11 7:15 14:21 Mt 24:7,8 Re 6:4-8

shall have. 21:9 39:18 45:5

3 Thus saith the LORD, This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which shall take it.

21:10 32:3-5

4 Therefore 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.

the princes. 26:11,21-23 36:12-16 2Ch 24:21 Eze 22:27 Mic 3:1-3 Zep 3:1-3

thus. Ex 5:4 1Ki 18:17,18 21:20 Ezr 4:12 Ne 6:9 Am 7:10 Lu 23:2 Joh 11:46-50 Ac 16:20 17:6 24:5 28:22

welfare. Heb. peace. 29:7

5 Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you.

for. 1Sa 15:24 29:9 2Sa 3:39 19:22 Pr 29:25 Joh 19:12-16

6 Then 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.

took. 37:21 Ps 109:5 Lu 3:19,20

into. 37:16 La 3:55 Ac 16:24 2Co 4:8,9 Heb 10:36

Hammelech. or, the king. 36:26

and they. 11,12

And in. This dungeon, which seems to have belonged to one of Zedekiah's sons, appears to have been a most dreadful place; the horrors of which were probably augmented by the cruelty of the jailor. The eastern people, observes Sir J. Chardin, have not different prisons for the different classes of criminals; the judges do not trouble themselves about where the prisoners are confined, or how they are treated, considering it merely as a place of safety; and all that they require of the jailor is, that the prisoner be forthcoming when called for. As to the rest, he is master to do as he pleases; to treat him ill or well; to put him in irons or not; to shut him in close, or hold him in easier restraint; to admit people to him, or to suffer nobody to see him. If the jailor and his servants have large fees, let the person be the greatest rascal in the world, he shall be lodged in the jailor's own apartment, and the best part of it; and on the contrary, if those that have imprisoned a man give the jailor greater presents, or that he has a greater regard for them, he will treat the prisoner with the greatest inhumanity. This adds a double energy to those passages which speak of the sighing of the prisoner and to Jeremiah's supplicating that he might not be remanded to the dungeon of Jonathan.

26 37:20 38:22 Ge 37:24 Ps 40:2 69:2,14,15 La 3:52-55 Zec 9:11

7 Now when Ebedmelech 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;

Ebed-melech. 39:16-18

Ethiopian. 13:23 Ps 68:31 Mt 8:11,12 20:16 Lu 10:30-36 13:29,30 Ac 8:27-39

eunuchs. 29:2 34:19 2Ki 24:15

the king. 37:13 De 21:19 Job 29:7-17 Am 5:10

8 Ebedmelech went forth out of the king's house, and spake to the king saying,

No references for this verse

9 My 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.

these. 1-6 Es 7:4-6 Job 31:34 Pr 24:11,12 31:8,9

is like to die. Heb. will die.
for there 37:21 52:6

10 Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die.

the king. Es 5:2 8:7 Ps 75:10 Pr 21:1

with thee. Heb. in thine hand.

11 So Ebedmelech 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.

let them. 6

12 And Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now these old cast clouts and rotten rags under thine armholes under the cords. And Jeremiah did so.

Put. Ro 12:10,15 Eph 4:32

13 So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.

So. 6

Jeremiah. 28 37:21 39:14-18 1Ki 22:27 Ac 23:35 24:23-26 28:16,30

14 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, I will ask thee a thing; hide nothing from me.

sent. 21:1,2 37:17

third. or, principal. 1Ki 10:5 2Ki 16:18

I will. 42:2-5,20 1Sa 3:17,18 1Ki 22:16 2Ch 18:15

15 Then 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?

Lu 22:67,68

16 So 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.

sware. 37:17 Joh 3:2

that made. Nu 16:22 27:16 Ec 12:7 Isa 57:16 Zec 12:1 Heb 12:9

of these. 1-6 34:20

17 Then 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:

the God of hosts. Ps 80:7,14 Am 5:27

the God of Israel. 1Ch 17:24 Ezr 9:4

If thou. 2 7:6,7 21:8-10 27:12,17 39:3 Job 23:13

18 But 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.

if thou. 2Ki 24:12 25:27-30

then. 3,23 24:8-10 32:3-5 34:2,3,19-22 39:3,5-7 52:7-11 2Ki 25:4-10 Eze 12:13 17:20,21 21:25-27

19 And 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.

I. 5 1Sa 15:24 Job 31:34 Pr 29:25 Isa 51:12,13 57:11 Joh 12:42 Joh 19:12

mock. 22 Jud 9:54 16:25 1Sa 31:4 Isa 45:9,10

20 But 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.

Obey. 26:13 2Ch 20:20 Da 4:27 Ac 26:29 2Co 5:11,20 6:1 Phm 1:8-10 Jas 1:22

and thy. Isa 55:3

21 But if thou refuse to go forth, this is the word that the LORD hath shewed me:

if thou. 5:3 Ex 10:3,4 16:28 Job 34:33 Pr 1:24-31 Isa 1:19,20 Heb 12:25

this is. 15:19-21 26:15 Nu 23:19,20 24:13 Job 23:13 Eze 2:1-10 4:1-17 Eze 5:1-17 7:1-27 3:17-19 Ac 18:6 20:26,27

22 And, 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.

all. 43:6 La 5:11

and those. Mr. Harmer would render, and here ({hennah,} or reading {hinneh,} behold,) the women (wont to sing on public occasions) shall say, etc.; observing that these bitter speeches much better suit the lips of women belonging to the conquering nation, singing before a captive prince, than of his own wives and concubines. This he illustrates by the following extract from Della Valle: When he was at Lar, in Persia, the king of Ormuz was brought thither in triumph; and this poor unfortunate king entered Lar, with his people, in the morning, music playing, and girls and women singing and dancing before him, according to the custom of Persia, and the people flocking together with a prodigious concourse, and conducting him in a pompous and magnificent manner, particularly with colours displayed, like what the Messenians formerly did to Philopoemen, the general of the Athenians, their prisoner of war, according to the report of Justin.

Thy friends. Heb. The men of thy peace. 4-6 20:10 Ps 41:9

have set. 19 La 1:2 Mic 7:5

thy feet. 6 Ps 69:2,14

they are. 46:5,21 Isa 42:17 La 1:13

23 So 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.

they shall. 18 39:6 41:10 52:8-13 2Ki 25:7 2Ch 36:20,21

shalt cause. Heb. shalt burn. 27:12,13 Eze 14:9 43:3

24 Then said Zedekiah unto Jeremiah, Let no man know of these words, and thou shalt not die.

No references listed for this verse

25 But 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:

See on ver. 4-6,27

26 Then 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.

37:15,20 42:2 Es 4:8

27 Then 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.

and he told. 1Sa 10:15,16 16:2-5 2Ki 6:19 Ac 23:6

left off speaking with him. Heb. were silent from him.

28 So Jeremiah abode in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken: and he was there when Jerusalem was taken.

13 15:20,21 37:21 39:14 Ps 23:4 2Ti 3:11 4:17,18