4 Therefore the princes said unto the king, We beseech you, let this man be put to death: for thus he weakens 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 seeks not the welfare of this people, but the harm.
5 Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not able to do anything against you.
6 Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with ropes. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sank in the mire.
7 Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the cistern; the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin;
8 Ebed-melech went forth out of the king's house, and spoke to the king, saying,
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 cistern; and he is likely to die from hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city.
10 Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from here thirty men with you, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern, before he dies.