⁶ So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into the cistern of Malchiah the king’s son, which was in the guard’s courtyard, lowering Jeremiah with ropes. There was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.^(A)

⁷ But Ebed-melech, a Cushite court official in the king’s palace, heard Jeremiah had been put into the cistern. While the king was sitting at the Benjamin Gate,^{(B) 8} Ebed-melech went from the king’s palace and spoke to the king: ⁹ “My lord the king, these men have been evil in all they have done to the prophet Jeremiah. They have dropped him into the cistern where he will die from hunger, because there is no more bread in the city.”^(C)

¹⁰ So the king commanded Ebed-melech, the Cushite, “Take from here thirty men under your authority^[a] and pull the prophet Jeremiah up from the cistern before he dies.”

¹¹ So Ebed-melech took the men under his authority^[b] and went to the king’s palace to a place below the storehouse.^[c] From there he took old rags and worn-out clothes and lowered them by ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. ¹² Ebed-melech the Cushite called down to Jeremiah, “Place these old rags and clothes between your armpits and the ropes.” Jeremiah did this. ¹³ They pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern, but he remained in the guard’s courtyard.