Jeremiah 38:14–39:14

ZEDEKIAH’S FINAL MEETING WITH JEREMIAH

¹⁴King Zedekiah sent for the prophet Jeremiah and received him at the third entrance of the Lord’s temple. The king said to Jeremiah, “I am going to ask you something; don’t hide anything from me.”

¹⁵Jeremiah replied to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, you will kill me, won’t you? Besides, if I give you advice, you won’t listen to me anyway.”

¹⁶King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in private,^d “As the Lord lives, who has given us this life,^e I will not kill you or hand you over to these men who intend to take your life.”

¹⁷Jeremiah therefore said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord, the God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If indeed you surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon,^f then you will live, this city will not be burned, and you and your household will survive. ¹⁸But if you do not surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then this city will be handed over to the Chaldeans.^g They will burn it, and you yourself will not escape from them.’ ”

¹⁹But King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am worried about the Judeans who have defected to the Chaldeans. They may hand me over to the Judeans to abuse me.”^h

²⁰“They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey the Lord in what I am telling you, so it may go well for you and you can live. ²¹But if you refuse to surrender, this is the verdict^A that the Lord has shown me: ²²‘All the women^B who remain in the palace of Judah’s king will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon and will say to you,^C

“Your trusted friends^D misled^E you

and overcame you.

Your feet sank into the mire,

and they deserted you.”

²³All your wives and children will be brought out to the Chaldeans.ⁱ You yourself will not escape from them, for you will be seized by the king of Babylon and this city will burn.’ ”

²⁴Then Zedekiah warned Jeremiah, “Don’t let anyone know about this conversation^F or you will die. ²⁵The officials may hear that I have spoken with you^j and come and demand of you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king; don’t hide anything from us and we won’t kill you. Also, what did the king say to you?’ ²⁶If they do, tell them, ‘I was bringing before the king my petition that he not return me to the house of Jonathan to die there.’ ”^{k 27}All the officials did come to Jeremiah, and they questioned him. He reported the exact words to them the king had commanded, and they quit speaking with him because the conversation^G had not been overheard. ²⁸Jeremiah remained in the guard’s courtyard until the day Jerusalem was captured, and he was there when it happened.^H

THE FALL OF JERUSALEM TO BABYLON

39In the ninth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, in the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army and laid siege to it.^{l 2}In the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, on the ninth day of the month, the city was broken into.^{m 3}All the officials of the king of Babylon entered and sat at the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer, Samgar, Nebusarsechim^I the chief of staff, Nergal-sharezer the chief soothsayer, and all the rest of the officials of Babylon’s king.^a

⁴When King Zedekiah of Judah and all the fighting men saw them, they fled. They left the city at night by way of the king’s garden^b through the city gate between the two walls. They left along the route to the Arabah.^{c 5}However, the Chaldean army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They arrested him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon’s king, at Riblah in the land of Hamath. The king passed sentence on him there.^d

⁶At Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, and he also slaughtered all Judah’s nobles. ⁷Then he blinded Zedekiah and put him in bronze chains to take him to Babylon.^{e 8}The Chaldeans next burned down the king’s palace and the people’s houses and tore down the walls of Jerusalem.^{f 9}Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards,^g deported the rest of the people to Babylon—those who had remained in the city and those deserters who had defected to him along with the rest of the people who remained. ¹⁰However, Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guards, left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who owned nothing, and he gave them vineyards and fields at that time.^h

JEREMIAH FREED BY NEBUCHADNEZZAR

¹¹Speaking through Nebuzaradan, captain of the guards, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon gave orders concerning Jeremiah: ¹²“Take him and look after him. Don’t do him any harm, but do for him whatever he says.” ¹³Nebuzaradan, captain of the guards, Nebushazban the chief of staff, Nergal-sharezer the chief soothsayer, and all the captains of Babylon’s king ¹⁴had Jeremiah brought from the guard’s courtyardⁱ and turned him over to Gedaliah^j son of Ahikam,^k son of Shaphan, to take him home. So he settled among his own people.