¹⁷Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord God All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be saved. Jerusalem will not be burned down, and you and your family will live. ¹⁸But if you refuse to surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, Jerusalem will be handed over to the Babylonian army, and they will burn it down. And you yourself will not escape from them.’ ”

¹⁹Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I’m afraid of some Jews who have already gone over to the side of the Babylonian army. If the Babylonians hand me over to them, they will treat me badly.”

²⁰But Jeremiah answered, “The Babylonians will not hand you over to the Jews. Obey the Lord by doing what I tell you. Then things will go well for you, and your life will be saved. ²¹But if you refuse to surrender to the Babylonians, the Lord has shown me what will happen. ²²All the women left in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out and taken to the important officers of the king of Babylon. Your women will make fun of you with this song:

‘Your good friends misled you

and were stronger than you.

While your feet were stuck in the mud,

they left you.’

²³“All your wives and children will be brought out and given to the Babylonian army. You yourself will not even escape from them. You will be taken prisoner by the king of Babylon, and Jerusalem will be burned down.”

²⁴Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Do not tell anyone that I have been talking to you, or you will die. ²⁵If the officers find out I talked to you, they will come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to King Zedekiah and what he said to you. Don’t keep any secrets from us. If you don’t tell us everything, we will kill you.’ ²⁶If they ask you, tell them, ‘I was begging the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house to die.’ ”

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