7 Ebed-melech the Cushite,38:7. "Cush" is usually thought to refer to upper Egypt. "Ebed-melech" means "servant of the king." a royal official in the king’s palace, found out that they had put Jeremiah in the cistern. The king was sitting at the Benjamin Gate,38:7. This probably means that the king was deciding legal cases. 8 so Ebed-melech left the palace and went to talk to the king 9 "My lord the king, all these terrible things these men have done to Jeremiah the prophet are evil. They’ve put him in the cistern, and he’ll starve to death there because there’s no more bread left in the city."
10 So the king gave the order to Ebed-melech the Cushite, "Take thirty men with you and go and pull Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies." 11 Ebed-melech took the men and went to the storehouse under the palace. He took some rags and old clothes from there and then went to the cistern where he lowered them with ropes to Jeremiah.
12 Ebed-melech the Cushite called down to Jeremiah, "Put these rags and old clothes under your arms to protect you from the ropes." Jeremiah did so, 13 and using the ropes they pulled him up and took him out of the cistern. Jeremiah stayed there in the guard’s courtyard.