Jeremiah was put in a dry well

38 Four officials, Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malkijah, heard what I had been telling all the people. 2 I had been telling them that Yahweh was saying, “Everyone who stays in Jerusalem will die. They will be killed by their enemies’ swords or from famines or from diseases. But those who surrender to the Babylonian army, they will be spared. They will not be killed. 3 Yahweh also says that the army of the King of Babylon will certainly capture this city [DOU].”

4 So those officials went to the king and said, “This man Jeremiah should be executed! Because of what he is saying, he is discouraging our soldiers who remain in the city. He is also discouraging the people. He is not saying things that will help us; he is saying things that will defeat us.”

5 King Zedekiah said, “All right, do to him what you want to; I do not have the power to stop you.”

6 So those officials took me from my cell and lowered me by ropes into a well in the courtyard. The well belonged to Malkijah, who was a son of the king. There was no water in the well, but there was a lot of mud, so I sank down deep into the mud.

7 But Ebed-Melech, a palace official from Ethiopia, heard someone say that I was in the well. At that time the king was deciding/judging people’s cases at the Benjamin Gate. 8 Ebed-Melech went out of the palace and said to the king, 9 “Your majesty, those men have done a very evil thing. They have put the prophet Jeremiah in a well. Almost all the food in the city is gone, so they will not be able to bring him any food and as a result he will die from hunger!”

10 So the king told Ebed-Melech, “Take thirty of my men/soldiers with you, and pull Jeremiah out of the well, in order that he does not die!”

11 So Ebed-Melech took thirty men with him and they went into a room in the palace below the room where they stored very valuable things. There they found some old rags and discarded clothing. They took those things and went to the well. They fastened them to a rope and lowered the rope to me. 12 Then Ebed-Melech called down to me, “Put these rags underneath your armpits, to protect you from being injured by the ropes!” So I did that. 13 Then they pulled me out of the well. I returned to the courtyard where the palace guards stayed, and I stayed there.