Jeremiah 38:17–23

¹⁷Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ^cIf you will surrender to ^dthe officials of the king of Babylon, ^ethen your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. ¹⁸But if you do not surrender to ^dthe officials of the king of Babylon, ^fthen this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, ^fand they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.” ¹⁹King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judeans ^gwho have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest I be handed over to them and they deal cruelly with me.” ²⁰Jeremiah said, “You shall not be given to them. Obey now the voice of the Lord in what I say to you, ^hand it shall be well with you, and your life shall be spared. ²¹But if you refuse to ^csurrender, this is the vision which the Lord has shown to me: ²²Behold, all the women left in the house of the king of Judah were being led out to the officials of the king of Babylon and were saying,

ⁱ“ ‘Your trusted friends have deceived you

and prevailed against you;

now that your feet are sunk in the mud,

they turn away from you.’

²³All your wives and ^jyour sons shall be led out to the Chaldeans, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand, but shall be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city shall be burned with fire.”