So King Zedekiah ordered me to be locked up in the palace courtyard. I stayed there, and each day I was given a loaf of bread from the bakeries until all the bread in the city was gone.

They pay me back evil for good and hatred for love.

But John reprimanded Governor Herod, because he had married Herodias, his brother's wife, and had done many other evil things.

Then Herod did an even worse thing by putting John in prison.

I was put in an underground cell and kept there a long time.

"From the bottom of the pit, O LORD, I cried out to you,

Upon receiving this order, the jailer threw them into the inner cell and fastened their feet between heavy blocks of wood.

We are often troubled, but not crushed; sometimes in doubt, but never in despair;

there are many enemies, but we are never without a friend; and though badly hurt at times, we are not destroyed.

You need to be patient, in order to do the will of God and receive what he promises.

Then he ordered Prince Jerahmeel, together with Seraiah son of Azriel and Shelemiah son of Abdeel, to arrest me and my secretary Baruch. But the LORD had hidden us.

So Ebedmelech went with the men to the palace storeroom and got some worn-out clothing which he let down to me by ropes.

He told me to put the rags under my arms, so that the ropes wouldn't hurt me. I did this,

In it I saw all the women left in Judah's royal palace being led out to the king of Babylonia's officers. Listen to what they were saying as they went: 'The king's best friends misled him, they overruled him. And now that his feet have sunk in the mud, his friends have left him.' "

Then they took him and threw him into the well, which was dry.

He pulled me out of a dangerous pit, out of the deadly quicksand. He set me safely on a rock and made me secure.

I am sinking in deep mud, and there is no solid ground; I am out in deep water, and the waves are about to drown me.

Save me from sinking in the mud; keep me safe from my enemies, safe from the deep water.

Don't let the flood come over me; don't let me drown in the depths or sink into the grave.

"I was trapped like a bird by enemies who had no cause to hate me.

Water began to close over me, and I thought death was near.

The LORD says, "Because of my covenant with you that was sealed by the blood of sacrifices, I will set your people free--- free from the waterless pit of exile.