Jeremiah 38:14–39:14

¹⁴And king Zedekiah sent and took the prophet Jeremiah unto him, into the third entry that is in the house of Jehovah; and the king said unto Jeremiah, I will ask thee a thing: hide nothing from me. ¹⁵And Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, If I declare it unto thee, wilt thou not certainly put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, thou wilt not hearken unto me. ¹⁶And king Zedekiah swore secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, As Jehovah liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life. ¹⁷And Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, Thus saith Jehovah the God of hosts, the God of Israel: If thou wilt freely go forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live, and thy house. ¹⁸But if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand. ¹⁹And king Zedekiah said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest they give me over into their hand, and they mock me. ²⁰And Jeremiah said, They shall not give thee over. Hearken, I beseech thee, unto the voice of Jehovah, in that which I speak unto thee; so shall it be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live. ²¹But if thou refuse to go forth, this is the word which Jehovah hath shewn me: ²²Behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah’s house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon’s princes; and they shall say, Thy familiar friends have set thee on, and have prevailed over thee; thy feet are sunk in the mire, they are turned away back. ²³And they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand; for thou shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon, and thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire. ²⁴And Zedekiah said unto Jeremiah, Let no man know of these words, and thou shalt not die. ²⁵And if the princes hear that I have talked with thee, and they come unto thee, and say unto thee, Declare unto us now what thou hast said unto the king, hide it not from us, and we will not put thee to death; and what hath the king said unto thee? ²⁶then thou shalt say unto them, I presented my supplication before the king, that he would not cause me to return to Jonathan’s house, to die there. ²⁷—And all the princes came to Jeremiah, and asked him; and he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. And they withdrew quietly from him; for the matter was not reported. ²⁸And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.

Chapter 39

¹And it came to pass when Jerusalem was taken, in the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it. ²In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth of the month, the city was broken into; ³and all the princes of the king of Babylon came in, and sat in the middle gate: Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebu, Sarsechim, chief chamberlain, Nergal-sharezer, chief magian, and all the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon. ⁴And it came to pass when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, that they fled, and went forth out of the city by night, by the way of the king’s garden, by the gate between the two walls; and he went out the way of the plain. ⁵And the army of the Chaldeans pursued after them, and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho; and they took him, and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, unto Riblah in the land of Hamath; and he pronounced judgment upon him. ⁶And the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah before his eyes, and the king of Babylon slaughtered all the nobles of Judah; ⁷and he put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with chains of brass, to carry him to Babylon. ⁸And the Chaldeans burned the king’s house and the houses of the people with fire, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁹And Nebuzar-adan the captain of the body-guard carried away captive into Babylon the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the deserters that had deserted to him, with the rest of the people that were left. ¹⁰But Nebuzar-adan the captain of the body-guard left certain of the people, the poor who had nothing, in the land of Judah, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time.

¹¹And Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had given charge concerning Jeremiah by Nebuzar-adan the captain of the body-guard, saying, ¹²Take him, and keep an eye upon him, and do him no harm; but do unto him even as he shall say unto thee. ¹³So Nebuzar-adan the captain of the body-guard sent, and Nebushazban, chief chamberlain, and Nergal-sharezer, chief magian, and all the king of Babylon’s princes, ¹⁴even they sent, and took Jeremiah out of the court of the guard and committed him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan, that he should conduct him away home. And he dwelt among the people.