9. Ebedmelech said, “Your Majesty, Jeremiah is a prophet, and those men were wrong to throw him into a well. And when Jerusalem runs out of food, Jeremiah will starve to death down there.”
10. Zedekiah answered, “Take thirty of my soldiers and pull Jeremiah out before he dies.”
11. Ebedmelech and the soldiers went to the palace and got some rags from the room under the treasury. He used ropes to lower them into the well.
12. Then he said, “Put these rags under your arms so the ropes won't hurt you.” After I had done that,
13. the men pulled me out. And from then on, I was kept in the courtyard of the palace guards.
14. King Zedekiah had me brought to his private entrance to the temple, and he said, “I'm going to ask you something, and I want to know the truth.”
15. “Why?” I replied. “You won't listen, and you might even have me killed!”
16. He said, “I swear in the name of the living Lord our Creator that I won't have you killed. No one else can hear what we say, and I won't let anyone kill you.”
17. Then I told him that the Lord had said: “Zedekiah, I am the Lord God All-Powerful, the God of Israel. I promise that if you surrender to King Nebuchadnezzar's officers, you and your family won't be killed, and Jerusalem won't be burnt down.