What does Jeremias Chapter 38 say, and which statements belong to its speaker?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Princes obtain confinement in mire and Abdemelech arranges rescue. The private inquiry receives a conditional surrender warning. Secrecy instructions precede continued custody until capture.

Chapter breakdown

Jeremias 38 names Saphatias son of Mathan, Gedelias son of Phassur, Juchal son of Selemias and Phassur son of Melchias as hearers. Jeremias announces death by sword, famine and pestilence for remaining, life for going to the Chaldeans, and capture of the city. Princes accuse him of weakening soldiers and people and seeking evil. Sedecias says denying them anything is not lawful. They lower Jeremias by ropes into Melchias son of Amelech’s dungeon at the prison entry; it has no water but mire, in which he sinks.

Abdemelech, an Ethiopian eunuch in the king’s house, hears, approaches the king sitting at Benjamin gate and protests the treatment and threatened death from hunger because bread is gone. Ordered to take thirty men, he takes old rotten rags from under the storehouse and instructs Jeremias to place them under his arms on the cords. They lift him out to the prison entry.

At the temple’s third gate the king asks for an undisguised answer. Jeremias fears death and ignored counsel; a private oath promises protection. Surrender would preserve life and house and prevent the city’s burning; refusal brings capture and fire. The king fears abuse by Jews who fled. Jeremias urges obedience and recounts the women’s future words about men of peace deceiving him, mire, abandonment, and captivity of wives and children. The king commands secrecy and supplies words about the prison petition. Princes hear those words and leave, having heard nothing. Jeremias remains until capture. The rescue is narrated; the surrender warning is not a narrated refusal decision.

The story inside

Opening: Princes obtain confinement in mire and Abdemelech arranges rescue. Development: The private inquiry receives a conditional surrender warning. Conclusion: Secrecy instructions precede continued custody until capture.

Lessons worth keeping

1
Princes obtain confinement in mire and Abdemelech arranges rescue.
2
The private inquiry receives a conditional surrender warning.
3
Secrecy instructions precede continued custody until capture.

Test your recall

Which images and requests does the speaker use, and what does the chapter leave unresolved?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 88120–88138
38:9. My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done against Jeremias the prophet, casting him into the dungeon to die there with hunger, for there is no more bread in the city. 38:10. Then the king commanded Abdemelech the Ethiopian, saying: Take from hence thirty men with thee, and draw up Jeremias the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die. 38:11. So Abdemelech taking the men with him, went into the king’s house that was under the storehouse: and he took from thence old rags, and old rotten things, and he let them down by cords to Jeremias into the dungeon. 38:12. And Abdemelech the Ethiopian said to Jeremias: Put these old rags and these rent and rotten things under thy arms, and upon the cords: and Jeremias did so. 38:13. And they drew up Jeremias with the cords, and brought him forth out of the dungeon. And Jeremias remained in the entry of the prison.
Lines 88152–88186
38:17. And Jeremias said to Sedecias: Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel: If thou wilt take a resolution and go out to the princes of the king of Babylon, thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burnt with fire: and thou shalt be safe, and thy house. 38:18. But if thou wilt not go out to the princes of the king of Babylon, this city shall be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire: and thou shalt not escape out of their hand. 38:19. And king Sedecias said to Jeremias: I am afraid because of the Jews that are fled over to the Chaldeans: lest I should be delivered into their hands, and they should abuse me. 38:20. But Jeremias answered: They shall not deliver thee: hearken, I beseech thee, to the word of the Lord, which I speak to thee, and it shall be well with thee, and thy soul shall live. 38:21. But if thou wilt not go forth, this is the word which the Lord hath shewn me: 38:22. Behold all the women that are left in the house of the king of Juda, shall be brought out to the princes of the king of Babylon: and they shall say: Thy men of peace have deceived thee, and have prevailed against thee, they have plunged thy feet in the mire, and in a slippery place and they have departed from thee. Thy men of peace.... Viri pacifici tui. That is thy false friends promising thee peace and happiness, and by their evil counsels involving thee in misery. 38:23. And all thy wives, and thy children shall be brought out to the Chaldeans, and thou shalt not escape their hands, but thou shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and he shall burn this city with fire.