Illuminated Coptic sanctuary banner

Jeremiah 44-46 LXX - Prison cistern and Jerusalem's fall

16 min read

Audio narration

Source shape: Brenton LXX Jeremiah 44–46 corresponds to familiar MT Jeremiah 37–39. All verse numbers, order, and wording follow the LXX text exactly. Familiar MT chapter numbers are noted only for cross-reference.

Jeremiah 44:1-6 LXX — Zedekias reigns in place of Joakim and the siege continues (familiar MT 37:1-6)

1. And Sedekias the son of Josias reigned instead of Joakim, whom Nabuchodonosor appointed to reign over Juda. 2. And he and his servants and the people of the land hearkened not to the words of the Lord, which he spoke by Jeremias. 3. And king Sedekias sent Joachal son of Selemias and Sophonias the priest son of Maasæas to Jeremias, saying, Pray now for us to the Lord. 4. Now Jeremias came and went through the midst of the city: for they had not put him into the house of the prison. 5. And the host of Pharao was come forth out of Egypt; and the Chaldeans heard the report of them, and they went up from Jerusalem. 6. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias, saying,

Sedekias reigns but neither he nor the people listen to the word spoken through Jeremiah. When Pharaoh’s army moves, the Chaldeans temporarily lift the siege. The king sends messengers asking Jeremiah to pray for them. For a brief period Jeremiah is free to move in the city.

Jeremiah 44:7-12 LXX — The Lord’s word that the Chaldeans will return and the city will be taken (familiar MT 37:7-10)

7. Thus said the Lord; Thus shalt thou say to the king of Juda who sent to thee, to seek me; Behold, the army of Pharao which is come forth to help you: they shall return to the land of Egypt: 8. and the Chaldeans themselves shall turn again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it with fire. 9. For thus saith the Lord; Suppose not in your hearts, saying, The Chaldeans will certainly depart from us: for they shall not depart. 10. And though ye should smite the whole host of the Chaldeans that fight against you, and there should be left a few wounded men, these should rise up each in his place, and burn this city with fire. 11. And it came to pass, when the host of the Chaldeans had gone up from Jerusalem for fear of the host of Pharao, 12. that Jeremias went forth from Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin, to buy thence a property in the midst of the people.

The Lord declares that Pharaoh’s help is illusory; the Chaldeans will return, take the city, and burn it. Even a decisive victory over the Babylonian field army would not save Jerusalem. While the siege is lifted, Jeremiah attempts to go to the land of Benjamin to secure a family property.

Jeremiah 44:13-21 LXX — Jeremiah arrested, beaten, and confined (familiar MT 37:11-21)

13. And he was in the gate of Benjamin, and there was there a man with whom he lodged, Saruia the son of Selemias, the son of Ananias; and he caught Jeremias, saying, Thou art fleeing to the Chaldeans. 14. And he said, It is false; I do not flee to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him; and Saruia caught Jeremias, and brought him to the princes. 15. And the princes were very angry with Jeremias, and smote him, and sent him into the house of Jonathan the scribe: for they had made this a prison. 16. So Jeremias came into the dungeon, and into the cells, and he remained there many days. 17. Then Sedekias sent, and called him; and the king asked him secretly, saying, Is there a word from the Lord? and he said, There is: thou shalt be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon. 18. And Jeremias said to the king, Wherein have I wronged thee, or thy servants, or this people, that thou puttest me in prison? 19. And where are your prophets who prophesied to you saying, The king of Babylon shall not come against this land? 20. Now therefore, my lord the king, let my supplication come before thy face: and why dost thou send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe? and let me not on any account die there. 21. Then the king commanded, and they cast him into the prison, and gave him a loaf a day out of the place where they bake, until the bread failed out of the city. So Jeremias continued in the court of the prison.

At the Benjamin gate Jeremiah is accused of deserting to the Chaldeans. Despite his denial, he is beaten by the princes and confined in Jonathan’s house. After many days the king summons him secretly. Jeremiah repeats the word that the king will be delivered to Babylon, then protests his unjust imprisonment and pleads not to be sent back to die. Zedekiah moves him to the court of the prison and orders a daily loaf until bread fails in the city.

Jeremiah 45:1-5 LXX — The princes demand Jeremiah’s death (familiar MT 38:1-5)

1. And Saphanias the son of Nathan, and Godolias the son of Paschor, and Joachal the son of Semelias, heard the words which Jeremias spoke to the people, saying, 2. Thus saith the Lord; He that remains in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine: but he that goes out to the Chaldeans shall live; and his soul shall be given him for a found treasure, and he shall live. 3. For thus saith the Lord; This city shall certainly be delivered into the hands of the host of the king of Babylon, and they shall take it. 4. And they said to the king, Let that man, we pray thee, be slain, for he weakens the hands of the fighting men that are left in the city, and the hands of all the people, speaking to them according to these words: for this man does not prophesy peace to this people, but evil. 5. Then the king said, Behold, he is in your hands. For the king could not resist them.

The princes hear Jeremiah tell the people that life now lies in going out to the Chaldeans. They accuse him of weakening the defenders and ask the king to put him to death. Zedekiah yields: “he is in your hands.” The surrender command is clear and specific to this prophetic moment. It is not a general theology of political submission. The permanent warning concerns rulers who ask for God’s word yet surrender the messenger when obedience becomes politically costly.

Jeremiah 45:6-13 LXX — The cistern and Ebed-Melech’s rescue (familiar MT 38:6-13)

6. And they cast him into the dungeon of Melchias the king’s son, which was in the court of the prison; and they let him down into the pit: and there was no water in the pit, but mire: and he was in the mire. 7. And Abdemelech the Ethiopian heard, (now he was in the king’s household,) that they had put Jeremias into the dungeon; and the king was in the gate of Benjamin: 8. and he went forth to him, and spoke to the king and said, 9. Thou hast done evil in what thou hast done to slay this man with hunger: for there is no more bread in the city. 10. And the king commanded Abdemelech, saying, Take with thee hence thirty men, and bring him up out of the dungeon, that he die not. 11. So Abdemelech took the men, and went into the underground part of the king’s house, and took thence old rags and old ropes, and threw them to Jeremias into the dungeon. 12. And he said, Put these under the ropes. And Jeremias did so. 13. And they drew him with the ropes, and lifted him out of the dungeon: and Jeremias remained in the court of the prison.

Jeremiah is lowered into a waterless cistern filled with mire and left to die. Ebed-Melech, an Ethiopian servant in the royal household, goes publicly to the king and names the act as evil. His rescue is both courageous and tender: he gathers old cloths to protect Jeremiah from the ropes, then draws him from the pit. Mercy does not remain an opinion about injustice. It notices the wounded body and acts carefully.

Jeremiah 45:14-28 LXX — Zedekiah seeks truth in secret but fears obedience (familiar MT 38:14-28)

14. Then the king sent, and called him to himself into the house of Aselisel, which was in the house of the Lord: and the king said to him, I will ask thee a question, and I pray thee hide nothing from me. 15. And Jeremias said to the king, If I tell thee, wilt thou not certainly put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, thou wilt not at all hearken to me. 16. And the king swore to him, saying, As the Lord lives who gave us this soul, I will not slay thee, neither will I give thee into the hands of these men. 17. And Jeremias said to him, Thus saith the Lord; If thou wilt indeed go forth to the captains of the king of Babylon, thy soul shall live, and this city shall certainly not be burnt with fire; and thou shalt live, and thy house. 18. But if thou wilt not go forth, this city shall be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt by no means escape. 19. And the king said to Jeremias, I consider the Jews that have gone over to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hands, and they mock me. 20. And Jeremias said, They shall in no wise deliver thee up. Hear the word of the Lord which I speak to thee; and it shall be better for thee, and thy soul shall live. 21. But if thou wilt not go forth, this is the word which the Lord has shewn me. 22. And, behold, all the women that are left in the house of the king of Juda were brought forth to the princes of the king of Babylon; and they said, The men who were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and will prevail against thee; and they shall cause thy foot to slide and fail, they have turned back from thee. 23. And they shall bring forth thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans: and thou shalt by no means escape, for thou shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon, and this city shall be burnt. 24. Then the king said to him, Let no man know any of these words, and certainly thou shalt not die. 25. And if the princes shall hear that I have spoken to thee, and they come to thee, and say to thee, Tell us, what said the king to thee? hide it not from us, and we will in no wise slay thee, and what said the king to thee? 26. Then thou shalt say to them, I brought my supplication before the presence of the king, that he would not send me back into the house of Jonathan, that I should die there. 27. And all the princes came to Jeremias, and asked him: and he told them according to all these words, which the king had commanded him. And they were silent, because the word of the Lord was not heard. 28. And Jeremias remained in the court of the prison, until the time when Jerusalem was taken.

Zedekiah asks Jeremiah to hide nothing, yet Jeremiah already knows the king’s pattern: “if I give thee counsel, thou wilt not at all hearken to me.” The king fears mockery and betrayal more than the destruction of his house and city. He wants private certainty without public obedience.

Jeremiah again promises life if the king acts on the word. When Zedekiah refuses, Jeremiah remains in the court of the prison until Jerusalem is taken. The chapter ends without dramatic vindication. Faithfulness consists in speaking truth, receiving rescue, and enduring when the hearer still will not obey.

Jeremiah 46:1-3 LXX — Jerusalem is breached (familiar MT 39:1-3)

1. And it came to pass in the ninth month of Sedekias king of Juda, that Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and they besieged it. 2. And in the eleventh year of Sedekias, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the city was broken up. 3. And all the leaders of the king of Babylon went in, and sat in the middle gate, Marganasar, and Samagoth, and Nabusachar, and Nabusaris, Nagargas, Naserrabamath, and the rest of the leaders of the king of Babylon,

The siege returns and the city is broken up exactly as the prophetic word declared. Babylonian leaders take their places in the middle gate. The quiet precision of the dates and names refuses to let judgment remain an abstraction: long-rejected words have become public history.

Jeremiah 46:14-18 LXX — Jeremiah and Ebed-Melech preserved amid the fall (familiar MT 39:14-18)

14. and they sent, and took Jeremias out of the court of the prison, and gave him in charge to Godolias the son of Achicam, the son of Saphan: and they brought him out, and he sat in the midst of the people. 15. And the word of the Lord came to Jeremias in the court of the prison, saying, 16. Go and say to Abdemelech the Ethiopian, Thus said the Lord God of Israel; Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not for good. 17. But I will save thee in that day, and I will by no means deliver thee into the hands of the men before whom thou art afraid. 18. For I will surely save thee, and thou shalt by no means fall by the sword; and thou shalt find thy life, because thou didst trust in me, saith the Lord.

Jeremiah is taken from the court of the prison and placed under Gedaliah’s protection among the people. The Lord also sends a personal word to Ebed-Melech. The city will receive the announced evil, but the servant who trusted God enough to rescue the prophet will not be handed to the men he fears. His life is given as spoil.

The promise does not erase Jerusalem’s ruin. It reveals that God sees a single courageous act within communal collapse. Thrones, walls, and armies fall; mercy done in faith is remembered.

Spiritual Fruit 🍇

Zedekiah repeatedly asks for the truth in private but fears to obey it in public. He wants prophetic clarity without the cost of being seen acting on it. Jeremiah’s counsel to surrender is specific to this prophetic moment and must not become a general rule of political submission. The enduring diagnosis is the divided will that seeks God’s answer while reserving the right to refuse it when reputation, fear, or power is threatened.

Ebed-Melech offers the opposite response. He sees a man sinking in mire, speaks to the king, gathers ropes and old cloths, and lifts the prophet carefully. His faithfulness is practical and compassionate. He cannot reverse the siege, reform the court, or save the city, but he can refuse to let cruelty have one more victim. When Jerusalem falls, the Lord remembers that act and promises him his life as spoil.

Lord, free me from private agreement without public obedience. Give me courage to act mercifully when the crowd prefers neglect, and teach me to use whatever is in my hands, even old cloths and ropes, to lift another person from the pit. Keep me faithful when structures fail and fear governs those in power. Amen.

Reading statusLoading your browser-local progress
Saved only in this browser

Created: | Updated:

Page Connections

Backlinks