Editing Jeremiah (section)

=== Babylon ===
The biblical narrative portrays Jeremiah as being subject to additional persecutions. After Jeremiah prophesied that Jerusalem would be handed over to the Babylonian army, the king's officials, including Pashur the priest, tried to convince King Zedekiah that Jeremiah should be put to death for disheartening the soldiers and the people. Zedekiah allowed them, and they cast Jeremiah into a [[cistern]], where he sank down into the mud. The intent seemed to be to kill Jeremiah by starvation, while allowing the officials to claim to be innocent of his blood.{{sfn|Barker|Youngblood|Stek|1995|p=1544}} [[Ebed-Melech]], an Ethiopian, rescued Jeremiah by pulling him out of the cistern, but Jeremiah remained imprisoned until Jerusalem fell to the Babylonian army in 587&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{bibleverse|Jeremiah|38:7-13}}</ref>

The Babylonians released Jeremiah, and showed him great kindness, allowing him to choose the place of his residence, according to a Babylonian edict. Jeremiah accordingly went to [[Mizpah in Benjamin]] with [[Gedaliah]], who had been made governor of [[Judea]].<ref>{{bibleverse|Jeremiah|40:5–6|KJV}}</ref>