2 'Thus said Jehovah: He who is remaining in this city dieth, by sword, by famine, and by pestilence, and he who is going forth unto the Chaldeans liveth, and his soul hath been to him for a prey, and he liveth. 3 Thus said Jehovah: This city is certainly given into the hand of the force of the king of Babylon, and he hath captured it.' 4 And the heads say unto the king, 'Let, we pray thee, this man be put to death, because that he is making feeble the hands of the men of war, who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking unto them according to these words, for this man is not seeking for the peace of this people, but for its evil.' 5 And the king Zedekiah saith, 'Lo, he 'is' in your hand: for the king is not able for you 'in' anything.' 6 And they take Jeremiah, and cast him into the pit of Malchiah son of the king, that 'is' in the court of the prison, and they send down Jeremiah with cords; and in the pit there is no water, but mire, and Jeremiah sinketh in the mire. 7 And Ebed-Melech the Cushite, a eunuch who 'is' in the king's house, heareth that they have put Jeremiah into the pit; and the king is sitting at the gate of Benjamin, 8 and Ebed-Melech goeth forth from the king's house, and speaketh unto the king, saying, 9 'My lord, O king, these men have done evil 'in' all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the pit, and he dieth in his place because of the famine, for there is no more bread in the city.'
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jeremiah 38:2-9
Commentary on Jeremiah 38:1-13
(Read Jeremiah 38:1-13)
Jeremiah went on in his plain preaching. The princes went on in their malice. It is common for wicked people to look upon God's faithful ministers as enemies, because they show what enemies the wicked are to themselves while impenitent. Jeremiah was put into a dungeon. Many of God's faithful witnesses have been privately made away in prisons. Ebed-melech was an Ethiopian; yet he spoke to the king faithfully, These men have done ill in all they have done to Jeremiah. See how God can raise up friends for his people in distress. Orders were given for the prophet's release, and Ebed-melech saw him drawn up. Let this encourage us to appear boldly for God. Special notice is taken of his tenderness for Jeremiah. What do we behold in the different characters then, but the same we behold in the different characters now, that the Lord's children are conformed to his example, and the children of Satan to their master?