Jeremiah 38:17–26

¹⁷Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender^a to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned down; you and your family will live.^{b 18}But if you will not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be given into the hands^c of the Babylonians and they will burn^d it down; you yourself will not escape^e from them.’ ”

¹⁹King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid^f of the Jews who have gone over^g to the Babylonians, for the Babylonians may hand me over to them and they will mistreat me.”

²⁰“They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey^h the Lord by doing what I tell you. Then it will go wellⁱ with you, and your life^j will be spared. ²¹But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has revealed to me: ²²All the women^k left in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon. Those women will say to you:

“ ‘They misled you and overcame you—

those trusted friends^l of yours.

Your feet are sunk in the mud;^m

your friends have deserted you.’

²³“All your wives and childrenⁿ will be brought out to the Babylonians. You yourself will not escape^o from their hands but will be captured^p by the king of Babylon; and this city will^e be burned down.”^q

²⁴Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know^r about this conversation, or you may die. ²⁵If the officials hear that I talked with you, and they come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us or we will kill you,’ ²⁶then tell^s them, ‘I was pleading with the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house^t to die there.’ ”