Jeremiah 38:11

11 So Ebed-melech took the men under his authority and went to the king's palace to a place below the storehouse.[a] From there he took old rags and worn-out clothes and lowered them by ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern.

Jeremiah 38:11 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 38:11

So Ebedmelech took the men with him
The thirty men, as the king ordered: as soon as ever he had got the grant, he immediately set about the work, and lost no time to save the prophet's life: and went unto the house of the king under the treasury;
from the gate of Benjamin he went to the king's palace, and to a particular place under the treasury; by which "treasury" may be meant the treasury of garments, or the royal wardrobe, under which was a place, where clothes worn out, or cast off, were put: the Septuagint represent it as underground, a cellar under the wardrobe: and took thence old cast clouts, and old rotten rags:
the Syriac version has it, such as cattle were wiped and cleaned with: and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah;
for it was so deep, that men could not reach to put them into the hands of the prophet; and, had they been thrown in, they might have been scattered about and be out of his reach, who stuck in the mire; or they would have been in all likelihood greatly bedaubed with the mire.

Jeremiah 38:11 In-Context

9 "My lord king, these men have been evil in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have dropped him into the cistern where he will die from hunger, because there is no more bread in the city."
10 So the king commanded Ebed-melech, the Cushite, "Take from here 30 men under your authority and pull Jeremiah the prophet up from the cistern before he dies."
11 So Ebed-melech took the men under his authority and went to the king's palace to a place below the storehouse. From there he took old rags and worn-out clothes and lowered them by ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern.
12 Ebed-melech the Cushite cried out to Jeremiah, "Place these old rags and clothes between your armpits and the ropes." Jeremiah did so,
13 and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern, but he continued to stay in the guard's courtyard.

Footnotes 1

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