Then Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Put the rags and clothes between your armpits and the ropes.” Jeremiah did so.
We find the same words here as before, Put now the old tatters, dragged or torn and rotten, Blayney gives a better version, “torn rags and worn-out rags.” The literal rendering is, “Rags of the torn, and rags of the rotten.” — Ed. under the pits of thy hands underneath the cords. This is an improper mode of speaking in Latin, but not in Hebrew.
Here, 1. Jeremiah persists in his plain preaching; what he had many a time said, he still says (Jer 38:3): This city shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon; though it hold out long, it will taken at last.
Commenting on Jeremiah 38:1-13
And Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah,.... Being come to the dungeon, and at the mouth of it, he addressed him in a very humane and friendly manner, and directed him how to make use of the rags he let down for his ease and benefit: put now these old cast clouts and rotten rags under thine arm holes under the cords; the cords were...