Bible Strands
Jeremiah 38:7
Now Ebed-melech the Cushite, a court official in the royal palace, heard that Jeremiah had been put into the cistern. While the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Ebed-melech, a Cushite court official in the royal palace, learns that Jeremiah has been lowered into a mud-filled cistern. The narrative pauses as the king takes his seat at the Gate of Benjamin, placing the official’s impending action in a public, administrative context.
The words — The Hebrew verb וַיִּשְׁמַע (va-yishmaʿ) literally means “and he heard,” marking a decisive shift from passive observation to active intervention. The compound name עֶבֶד־מֶלֶךְ (ʿeved-melekh) translates to “servant of the king,” identifying his official status rather than implying slavery.
The thread — The Gate of Benjamin functions as a royal administrative hub, echoing Deuteronomy 21:19 where elders convene at city gates, and Amos 5:10 where authorities oppress reprovers at the gate. The royal palace setting parallels the court officials mentioned in Jeremiah 29:2 during the exile period.
Why it lands — The text records a specific official receiving news of a prophet’s unjust confinement and positions him to act while the king holds court. The reader is asked to note how institutional awareness precedes moral intervention, requiring attention to the precise moment authority encounters conscience.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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;
Cross-references
- Amos 5:10 There are those who hate the one who reproves in the gate and despise him who speaks with integrity.
- Deuteronomy 21:19 his father and mother are to lay hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown,
- Jeremiah 29:2 (This was after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the court officials, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metalsmiths had been exiled from Jerusalem.)
- Jeremiah 37:13 But when he reached the Gate of Benjamin, the captain of the guard, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah, seized him and said, “You are deserting to the Chaldeans!”
- Jeremiah 13:23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Neither are you able to do good—you who are accustomed to doing evil.
- Jeremiah 39:16 “Go and tell Ebed-melech the Cushite that this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am about to fulfill My words against this city for harm and not for good, and on that day they will be fulfilled before your eyes.
- Matthew 8:11 I say to you that many will come from the east and the west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
- Matthew 20:16 So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
- Luke 10:30 Jesus took up this question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.
- Luke 13:29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God.