⁴ Then the officials said to the king, “This man ought to be put to death because he is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city and all the people by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm.”^{(A) 5} King Zedekiah said, “Here he is; he is in your hands, for the king is powerless against you.”^{(B) 6} So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. Now there was no water in the cistern but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.^(C)

¹⁷ Then King Zedekiah sent for him and received him. The king questioned him secretly in his house and said, “Is there any word from the Lord?” Jeremiah said, “There is!” Then he said, “You shall be handed over to the king of Babylon.”^(A)

Jerusalem’s Victory

12 An Oracle.

The word of the Lord concerning Israel: Thus says the Lord, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the human spirit within:^(A)