7-9 But a man named Ebed Melech heard that those officials had put Jeremiah into the cistern. {\cf2\super [325]} Ebed Melech was a man from Ethiopia, and he was a eunuch {\cf2\super [326]} in the king’s house. King Zedekiah was sitting at the Benjamin Gate. So Ebed Melech left the king’s house and went to talk to the king at that gate.
7 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;
7 Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian [a Cushite], one of the eunuchs who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon or cistern pit; and while the king was then sitting in the Gate of Benjamin,
7 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),
7 Ebed-melech the Cushite, a court official in the royal palace, got word that they had thrown Jeremiah into the cistern. Since the king was sitting at the Benjamin Gate,
7 Now Ebedmelech, an Ethiopian man, a eunuch who was in the king's house, heard that they had sent Jeremiah into the pit, and also that the king was sitting at the gate of Benjamin.
But when Jeremiah got to the Benjamin Gate of Jerusalem, {\cf2\super [321]} the captain in charge of the guards arrested him. The captain’s name was Irijah. Irijah was the son of Shelemiah. Shelemiah was the son of Hananiah. So Irijah the captain arrested Jeremiah and said, “Jeremiah, you are leaving us to join the Babylonian side.”
(This letter was sent after King Jehoiachin, the queen mother, the officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the carpenters, and the metal workers had been taken from Jerusalem.)
\{Prophets\} go to the public places\par and speak against \{the bad things\par that people are doing\}.\par And the people hate \{those prophets\}.\par \{The prophets\} teach good, simple truths.\par And the people hate those \{prophets\}.\par
“So the people that have the last place now will have the first place in the future. And the people that have the first place now will have the last place in the future.”
These are the people that walked between the two pieces of the calf when they made the Agreement before me: the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the important officials of the court, the priests, and the people of the land.
A black man can’t change\par the color of his skin.\par And a leopard can’t change his spots.\par In the same way, Jerusalem, you can’t change and do good.\par You always do bad things.\par
Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin to Babylon as a prisoner. Nebuchadnezzar also took the king’s mother, his wives, officers, and the leading men of the land. Nebuchadnezzar took them from Jerusalem to Babylon as prisoners.
“This is what that person must do. When he runs away and goes to one of those cities, he must stop at the entrance of the city. He must stand at the gate and tell the leaders of the people what happened. Then the leaders can allow him to enter the city. They will give him a place to live among them.
Some people that are not Jews will join themselves to the Lord. Those people should not say, “The Lord will not accept me with his people.” A eunuch {\cf2\super [433]} should not say, “I am a dry piece of wood—\{I can’t make any children\}.”
So he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten. And he had Jeremiah’s hands and feet locked between large blocks of wood. This was at the Upper Gate of Benjamin of the temple.
Then the rulers and all the people spoke. Those people said to the priests and the prophets, “Jeremiah must not be killed. The things Jeremiah told us come from the Lord our God.”
At that time, the whole area around Jerusalem will become \{empty\} like the Arabah desert. The country will be like a desert from Geba to Rimmon in the Negev. But the whole city of Jerusalem will be built again—from Benjamin Gate to the First Gate (that is, the Corner Gate) and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses.