Ebed-melech speaks up

7Ebed-melech the Cushite, a court official who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern, while the king was sitting at the Benjamin Gate.

8Then Ebed-melech went out from the king’s house and spoke to the king, saying,

9My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they threw into the cistern, and he will die there because of the famine, for there is no bread left in the city.

10Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Cushite, saying, “Take with you from here thirty men, and bring Jeremiah the prophet up from the cistern before he dies.”