Jeremiah 39:18
For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee: because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the LORD. For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee: because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the LORD.
The promise to Ebed-melech in Jeremiah 39:15-18 came before the capture described in Jeremiah 39:1-14, standing after Jeremiah 38 and before Jeremiah 40. The prophecies of Jeremiah are not placed in time order because of the way the manuscript rolls were gathered together into one book, though the chapter itself shows its time and the difference in order makes no change in the teaching.
He was to be surely delivered from death in Jerusalem's fall and not fall by the sword, but have his life for a prey, because he had put his trust in the Lord, so that his spared life was the reward for that trust. Here the Hebrew word nephesh, often translated soul, means life, namely the life preserved from the sword, and the verse stands among 118 places where nephesh is translated life or lives. The verse belongs to the account in Jeremiah 34-39, which teaches that people must heed the word God gives through His humble messenger, as seen in Zedekiah's refusal to obey Jeremiah's final counsel because he feared the people.