Jeremiah 38:7

Benjamin Ebed-melech Jeremiah Gate of Benjamin

Mercy and compassion Courage and strength The stranger and outcast

⁵ Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you.

⁶ Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.

Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs which was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin;

⁸ Ebed-melech went forth out of the king’s house, and spake 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 dungeon; and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city.

Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: Now Ebed-melech the Cushite, a court official in the royal palace, heard that Jeremiah had been put into the cistern. While the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin,
KJV: Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs which was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin;
WEB: Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon (the king was then sitting in Benjamin’s gate),
ASV: Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king`s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon (the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin,)
DARBY: And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon now the king was sitting in the gate of Benjamin,
BLB: And Ebed-melech the Cushite, a eunuch who [was] in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern—and the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin—

ÅB: Men etioperen Ebed-Melek, en gilding som tjente i kongens hus, hørte at de hadde kastet Jeremias i brønnen - kongen satt da i Benjamin-porten.
OTB: Men Ebed-Melek, en kusjitt, en tjenestemann i det kongelige palasset, hørte at de hadde satt Jeremias i brønnen. Nå satt kongen ved Benjamin-porten;
B1930: Men etioperen Ebed-Melek, en gilding som tjente i kongens hus, hørte at de hadde kastet Jeremias i brønnen - kongen satt da i Benjamin-porten.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Amos 5:10
They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
Read in context
Deuteronomy 21:19
Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place;
Read in context
Jeremiah 37:13
And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans.
Read in context
Jeremiah 29:2
(After that Jeconiah the king, and the queen, and the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, and the carpenters, and the smiths, were departed from Jerusalem;)
Read in context
Matthew 20:16
So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
Read in context
Jeremiah 39:16–18
Go and speak to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not for good; and they shall be accomplished in that day before thee.
Read in context
Matthew 8:11–12
And I say unto you, That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.
Read in context
Luke 13:29–30
And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God.
Read in context