Hophrah, however, did finally bestir himself. Word came to Jerusalem, and it reached the besieging forces, that a vast army of Egyptians was on the march northward. To the surprise of all, Nebuchadrezzar withdrew from Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem prophets were jubilant. They saw their hopeful forecasts all fulfilled and Judah once more independent. But Jeremiah knew better. He held out no such false hopes:

"Behold, Pharaoh's army, which has come out to help you,
shall return to Egypt. Then the Chaldeans shall come back
and fight against the city and shall take it and burn it
with fire."Do not deceive yourselves with the idea that the Chaldeans
will depart from you; for they shall not depart. For though
ye had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that fight
against you, and there remained but wounded men, yet would
these arise up each in his tent, and burn this city with fire."

Although this sounds like a trumpet call of doom, Jeremiah was not without hope. The course of events, as he saw it, included the fall of Judah at the hands of Nebuchadrezzar; but he hoped also for a later rehabilitation of the land and rebuilding of the capital.

Jeremiah pinned his faith on the exiles in Babylonia and the certainty of their return to Judah. To picture his hope vividly, he determined to purchase his family estate in Anathoth. While Jerusalem was celebrating the withdrawal of the Babylonian troops and awaiting the coming of Hophrah's army, Jeremiah, with this in mind, started for Anathoth.

At the gates of the town, however, he was arrested and brought back to Jerusalem in chains. He was accused of high treason, of having spied out Jerusalem, and of attempting to escape to the Babylonians with the secrets. Without trial he was sentenced to prison and jailed in the guard house of the Temple garrison.

But this was not sufficient for the princes who had trumped up this charge against Jeremiah. They came to Zedekiah and charged that, by his speeches and actions, he was undermining discipline in the army and weakening the spirit of the people. They demanded that he be put to death.

Zedekiah, always weak and uncertain, replied, "Behold, he is in your hands." But they dared not kill Jeremiah outright.

"Then took they Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern that
was in the Court of the Guard; and they let down Jeremiah
with cords. And in the cistern there was no water, but mire;
and Jeremiah sank in the mire."

There was one person in the Court of the Guard who might have drawn Jeremiah right up out of the cistern where he had been left to die, had he not feared the wrath of the princes. It was Ebed-melech, the old, faithful friend. The Ethiopian was not afraid to die; but he felt that it would be useless to attempt to spirit Jeremiah away, for both would surely be caught. He cast about for some other means to save him whom he loved only as he had loved Josiah, the friend of his youth.