Singing the Prison Blues (Jeremiah 38)

Scripture reading – Jeremiah 38

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* Please note that words and phrases in brackets are the author’s amplification.

Jeremiah 38

Jeremiah’s Fearless Preaching (Jeremiah 38:1-3)

With the Chaldean (Babylonian) army encamped outside the walls of Jerusalem, the people within faced a time of suffering too horrible to behold. Though famine and disease afflicted the nation, the king and his counselors refused to heed Jeremiah’s warning that all would perish if the city did not surrender to Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 38:3).

Four counselors to the king are named in Jeremiah 38:1, and they set themselves against Jeremiah. They not only accused the prophet of treason but also demanded his death (Jeremiah 38:4).

The Wicked Counsel of Jeremiah’s Enemies (Jeremiah 38:4-6)

Obstinate and foolish, the king’s officials (“princes”) disparaged Jeremiah to the king. They accused the prophet of discouraging the people and weakening their resolve to defend the city (Jeremiah 36:4). King Zedekiah, true to his wicked character, betrayed God’s prophet into the hands of his enemies, who seized and imprisoned him. They “cast him into the dungeon…that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords… And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire” (Jeremiah 36:6).  

Ebedmelech Interceded for Jeremiah (Jeremiah 38:7-13)

Providence brought a man named Ebedmelech, an Ethiopian, who recognized the injustices Jeremiah suffered and interceded for God’s prophet. He petitioned the king to save the old prophet from the dungeon (Jeremiah 38:8), knowing Jeremiah was “like to die for hunger in the place” (Jeremiah 38:9). Zedekiah honored Ebedmelech’s request and commanded 30 men to deliver Jeremiah from the dungeon to “the court of the prison” (Jeremiah 38:10). Using dirty rags and old garments, they fashioned a rope and lifted Jeremiah out of the dungeon (Jeremiah 38:11-13).

Zedekiah’s Secret Consultation with Jeremiah (Jeremiah 38:14-24)

Zedekiah then summoned Jeremiah and demanded, “I will ask thee a thing; hide nothing from me” (Jeremiah 38:14). The king wanted to know what would become of him and the nation. However, Jeremiah did not trust Zedekiah and feared that Zedekiah would reject his words and put him to death (Jeremiah 38:15). The king assured Jeremiah that he would not be harmed (Jeremiah 38:16).

Tragically, nothing had changed in what God had proposed and foretold for Jerusalem through his prophet. Jeremiah counseled the king to surrender the city, or death and destruction would befall the king’s family and the city (Jeremiah 38:20). The prophet warned that refusing to surrender the city to Nebuchadnezzar would invite the scorn of the women in his own household for heeding the counsel of his “friends” (Jeremiah 38:21-22). Finally, the king’s wives and children would become slaves of Babylon, and Jerusalem would be burned to the ground (Jeremiah 38:23).

Zedekiah Rejected Jeremiah’s Counsel (Jeremiah 38:24-28)

Fearing the wrath of men rather than the judgment of God (Jeremiah 38:19), Zedekiah demanded that Jeremiah tell no one about his conversation with the king (Jeremiah 38:24-25). If anyone asked what he had said to the king, Jeremiah was to reply that he had asked the king not to return him to the dungeon (Jeremiah 38:26).

Closing thoughts –

Those men who hated Jeremiah came demanding to be told what he had said to the king, and Jeremiah answered as the king instructed (26:27). “So Jeremiah abode in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken: and he was there when Jerusalem was taken” (Jeremiah 38:28).

Copyright © 2026 – Travis D. Smith 

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