My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is: for [there is] no more bread in the city.
9. he is like to die (mg. Heb. he is dead) in the place where he is because of the famine ] is dead of hunger on the spot. Jeremiah was at death’s door already, as suffering at once from hunger and from confinement in so dismal a dungeon. If food was almost exhausted, prisoners would naturally be the first to suffer.
for there is no more bread in the city ] This again is an exaggeration shewing the eagerness of the speaker. If it had been absolutely true, there could have been no object in freeing Jeremiah. The obvious sense is that there was so scanty a supply of provision that there was little or no chance of any reaching Jeremiah in the place where he was then confined.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 9. My lord the king, these men have done evil] He must have been much in the king’s confidence, and a humane and noble spirited man, thus to have raised his voice against the powerful cabal already mentioned.
There is no more bread in the city.] They had defended it to the last extremity; and it appears that bread had been afforded to the prophet according to the king’s commandment, as long as there was any remaining. See Jer 37:21.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The courage of this good eunuch was very remarkable; he did not stay till the king came in, but went to the king, as he was sitting in the gate of Benjamin, administering justice, or receiving and answering petitions, where doubtless he was not alone, and probably was attended there by some of those princes who had thrown Jeremiah into this miserable place. Ebed-melech was not afraid of them, but openly complains of their cruelty to the king, and tells him that Jeremiah would be starved to death: those who were alive in the city could not long subsist, for the stores were almost all spent, and though the king had appointed the prophet an allowance, yet being in such a hole, and there being so little bread left in the city, it was not likely there would be much care taken of him.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. die for hunger in the place wherehe is; for . . . no . . . bread in . . . city(Compare Jer37:21). He had heretofore got a piece of bread supplied to him.”Seeing that there is the utmost want of bread in thecity, so that even if he were at large, there could no more beregularly supplied to him, much less now in a place where noneremember or pity him, so that he is likely to die for hunger.””No more bread,” that is, no more left of the publicstore in the city (Jer 37:21);or, all but no bread left anywhere [MAURER].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
My lord the king,…. He addresses him as a courtier, with great reverence and submission, and yet with great boldness:
these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet; meaning the princes, who might be present, and whom he pointed at, and mentioned by name; which showed great courage and faithfulness, as well as great zeal for, and attachment to, the prophet; to charge after this manner persons of such great authority so publicly, and to the king, whom the king himself stood in fear of: he first brings a general charge against them, that they had done wrong in everything they had done to the prophet; in their angry words to him; in smiting him, and putting him in prison in Jonathan’s house; and particularly in their last instance of ill will to him:
whom they have cast into the dungeon; he does not say where, or describe the dungeon, because well known to the king, and what a miserable place it was; and tacitly suggests the cruelty and inhumanity of the princes:
and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is, for [there is] no more bread in the city; or very little; there was none to be had but with great difficulty, as Kimchi observes; and therefore though the king had ordered a piece of bread to be given him daily, as long as there was any in the city; yet it being almost all consumed, and the prophet being out or sight, and so out of mind, and altogether disregarded, must be in perishing circumstances, and near death; and must inevitably perish, unless some immediate care be taken of him. It may be rendered, “he will die” t, c. or the sense is, bread being exceeding scarce in the city, notwithstanding the king’s order, very little was given to Jeremiah, while he was in the court of the prison so that he was half starved, and was a mere skeleton then, and would have died for hunger there; wherefore it was barbarous in the princes to cast such a man into a dungeon. It may be rendered, “he would have died for hunger in the place where he was, seeing there was no more bread in the city” u; wherefore, if the princes had let him alone where he was, he would have died through famine; and therefore acted a very wicked part in hastening his death, by throwing him into a dungeon; this is Jarchi’s sense, with which Abarbinel agrees.
t “morietur enim”, Schmidt. u “Qui moriturus fuerat in loco suo propter famem”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He then said, that the king’s counselors had done wickedly in all the things which they had done against Jeremiah the Prophet, because they had cast him into the well: and he added, There he will die under himself, or as some render it, and rightly, “in his own place.” But the expression is striking, but cannot be fully expressed in our language: for Ebedmelech meant that Jeremiah would die, though no one molested him, though no evil or harm were done to him by another. He will, then, die in his own place, that is, he will die, if left where he is; because he lay, as it has appeared, sunk in mire. And then he said, He will die through famine; for he had been cast into the pit as into a grave. And as scarcity prevailed among the whole people, Jeremiah could not have hoped for any aid; and bread, as we shall hereafter see, could not have been thrown to him. Then Ebedmelech says here first, that Jeremiah had been unworthily treated, because he was God’s Prophet; for he honors him with this title, that he might expose the impiety of the princes; and secondly, he shews how miserably he lay in the pit, because no one could supply him with food, and there was no more bread in the city. It now follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(9) These men have done evil. . . .It is noticeable that some MSS. of the LXX., following apparently a different text, represent the Eunuch as assuming that the king himself had given the order, Thou hast done evil in all that thou hast done.
He is like to die for hunger.Literally, and he dies . . . painting vividly what would be the certain issue if no help were sent. It lies in the nature of the case that those who had thrown the prophet into the pit were not likely to continue the supply of his daily rations (Jer. 37:21), and the scarcity that prevailed in the besieged city made it all but impossible that his friends, even if they could gain access to him, should help him out of their own resources. Ebed-melech had obviously no power to help him without the kings sanction.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. Is like to die Literally, he is dead upon the spot for hunger. This is the language of intensity and alarm. It is hence the language of the feelings, and not merely of the intellect.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 38:9. And he is like to die for hunger, &c. Particularly when he would have died by hunger where he was, if bread was wanting in the city. As much as to say, “There was no need for those who desired his death to put him into so filthy and loathsome a place;” since, if he had continued in the court of the prison, he must have died through the famine which threatens the city, if there were no bread. See Houbigant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 38:9 My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is: for [there is] no more bread in the city.
Ver. 9. My lord the king, these men have done evil. ] What a brave man was this, to oppose so many princes, and so potent that the king himself dared not displease them! It was God’s holy Spirit that put this mettle into him, and gave him the freedom of speech. Psa 119:46
And he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is.
For there is no more bread in the city.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
these: Jer 38:1-6, Est 7:4-6, Job 31:34, Pro 24:11, Pro 24:12, Pro 31:8, Pro 31:9
is like to die: Heb. will die
for there: Jer 37:21, Jer 52:6
Reciprocal: Gen 47:18 – General Exo 23:2 – to decline Isa 3:1 – the stay Jer 39:17 – of whom Lam 1:11 – seek Lam 3:53 – cut 2Co 11:27 – in hunger
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 38:9. The eunuch made no reference to the merits of the ease against Jeremiah; he may have had no opinion on that subject. The plea the eunuch made was from the standpoint of humanity, that Jeremiah was being treated in an evil way in that he was exposed to the danger of a cruel death.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
38:9 My lord the king, {f} these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is certain to die from hunger in the place where he is: for [there is] no more bread in the city.
(f) By this is declared that the prophet found more favour at this strangers hands, than he did by all them of his country, which was to their great condemnation.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Ebed-melech informed the king that Jeremiah’s enemies had acted wickedly by putting him in the cistern. The prophet would die if he remained there because there was no more food in Jerusalem and he would be neglected. Zedekiah had previously promised to provide food for Jeremiah as long as there was food available (Jer 37:21), so Ebed-melech may have been appealing to this promise.
"God, as is His way so often, used an insignificant person to touch off Jeremiah’s rescue." [Note: Jensen, p. 100.]