Jeremiah 38

The original text was written in Hebrew. This chapter is divided into 28 verses.

The parashah sections listed here are based on the Aleppo Codex.^[6] Jeremiah 38 is a part of the "Fifteenth prophecy (Jeremiah 36-39)" in the section of Prophecies interwoven with narratives about the prophet's life (Jeremiah 26-45). {P}: open parashah; {S}: closed parashah.

[{S} 37:12-21] 38:1-2 {S} 38:3-6 {S} 38:7-13 {S} 38:14-16 {S} 38:17a {S} 38:17b-18 כה אמר {S} 38:19-23 {S} 38:24-26 {P} 38:27-28a {S} 38:28b [39:1-14 והיה כאשר {S}]

The New King James Version divides this chapter into the following sections:

• Jeremiah 38:1–13 = Jeremiah in the Dungeon
• Jeremiah 38:14–28 = Zedekiah's Fears and Jeremiah's Advice

Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people, saying^[7]

• "Jucal the son of Shelemiah": same as "Jehucal the son of Shelemiah" in Jeremiah 37:3. During the excavations in the ruins of the City of David conducted by the Ir David Foundation in 2005 a bulla was discovered with the inscription "belonging to Jehucal son of Shelemiah (Shelemyahu) son of Shovi" which is thought to point to the person mentioned here.^[8]
• "Gedaliah the son of Pashhur": A bulla seal bearing the same name in Paleo-Hebrew alphabet was discovered by Eilat Mazar of Hebrew University, Jerusalem, during an excavation in the ruins of the City of David conducted by the Ir David Foundation in 2008, in the same strata, just a few yards away, from the seal of Jehucal the son of Shelemiah.^[9][10][11]
• "Pashhur, the son of Malchiah" is also named in Jeremiah 21:1.^[12]

"Thus says the Lord: 'He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes over to the Chaldeans shall live; his life shall be as a prize to him, and he shall live.'"^[13]

• Huey and others note the close similarities of the wording in this verse with Jeremiah 21:9, but concluded that the warning could have been repeated many times.^[14]

Therefore the princes said to the king, 'Please, let this man be put to death, for thus he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man does not seek the welfare of this people, but their harm."^[15]

• According to the New Oxford Annotated Bible, the phraseology in this verse is found to be similar to one in "a letter written 18 months earlier, found in the excavations at Lachish"^[1] (Ostracon VI of Lachish letters).^[16][17]

So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the prison, and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire. So Jeremiah sank in the mire.^[18]

This location is referred to as "the dungeon" in the King James Version and New King James Version, the American Standard Version and the Geneva Bible. It is referred to as "a cistern" in the English Standard Version, the revised edition of the New American Bible, the New International Version and the Revised Standard Version.^[19] The Jerusalem Bible describes it as a cistern or a well.^[20] Alternative readings state that Malchiah was not the king's son but "the son of Hammelech".^[21]

The story of Jeremiah's rescue from the cistern/dungeon is recalled in these verses. Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian royal servant, appears "inexplicably and with no prior narrative intimations",^[22] to become the one who call's for Jeremiah's rescue.

Now Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken. And he was there when Jerusalem was taken.^[23]

The Jerusalem Bible merges the last part of this verse with Jeremiah 39:3: Now when Jerusalem was captured ... all the officers of the King of Babylon marched in...^[24]

• Related Bible part: 2 Kings 24, Jeremiah 21, Jeremiah 36, Jeremiah 37, Jeremiah 39