Jeremiah 38:14–39:14

Zedekiah’s Final Meeting with Jeremiah

¹⁴King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet 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, ^m“As the Lord lives, who has given us this life, ⁿI will not kill you or hand you over to these men who want to take your life.”

¹⁷Jeremiah therefore said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘If indeed you surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, ^othen you will live, this city will not be burned down, 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. ^pThey will burn it down, and you yourself will not escape from them.’ ”

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

²⁰“They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey the voice of 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 ^rthat the Lord has shown me: ²²‘All the women ^swho remain in the palace of Judah’s king will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon and will say:

Your trusted friends ^tmisled ^uyou

and overcame you.

Your feet sank into the mire,

and they deserted you.

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

²⁴Then Zedekiah warned Jeremiah, “Don’t let anyone know about these things or you will die. ²⁵If the officials hear that I have spoken with you ^wand 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?’ ²⁶then you will tell them, ‘I was bringing before the king my petition that he not return me to the house of Jonathan to die there.’ ” ^x27When all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him, he reported the exact words to them the king had commanded, and they quit speaking with him because nothing had been heard. ²⁸Jeremiah remained in the guard’s courtyard until the day Jerusalem was captured, and he was there when it happened. ^y

The Fall of Jerusalem to Babylon

39In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army and laid siege to it.²In the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, on the ninth day of the month, the city was broken into. ^z3All the officials of the king of Babylon entered and sat at the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer, Samgar, Nebusarsechim ^athe Rab-saris, Nergal-sharezer the Rab-mag, and all the rest of the officials of Babylon’s king. ^b

⁴When he saw them, Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers fled. They left the city at night by way of the king’s garden ^cthrough the gate between the two walls. They left along the route to the Arabah. ^d5However, the Chaldean army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains ^eof Jericho, arrested him, and brought him to Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon’s king, at Riblah in the land of Hamath. The king passed sentence on him there. ^f

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. ^gh8The Chaldeans next burned down the king’s palace and the people’s houses and tore down the walls of Jerusalem. ⁱ⁹Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guards, ^jdeported 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 had remained. ¹⁰However, Nebuzaradan, the commander 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. ^k

Jeremiah Freed by Nebuchadnezzar

¹¹Speaking through Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon gave orders concerning Jeremiah, saying: ¹²“Take him, look after him, and don’t let any harm come to him; do for him whatever he says.” ¹³Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, Nebushazban the Rab-saris, Nergal-sharezer the Rab-mag, and all the captains of the king of Babylon ¹⁴had Jeremiah brought from the guard’s courtyard ^land turned him over to Gedaliah ^mson of Ahikam, ⁿson of Shaphan, to take him home. So he settled among his own people.