The king’s choice

14Then King Zedekiah sent and took Jeremiah the prophet to himself, to the third entrance that is in the house of Yahweh, and the king said to Jeremiah, “I am asking you something; do not hide anything from me.”

15Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I advise you, you will not listen to me.”

16Then King Zedekiah swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, “As Yahweh lives, who made this life for us, I will not put you to death, nor will I give you into the hand of these men who are seeking your life.”

17Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you indeed go out to the officials of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared, and this city will not be burned with fire; and you and your household will live.”

18But if you do not go out to the officials of the king of Babylon, then this city will be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they will burn it with fire, and you will not escape from their hand.

19Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judeans who have defected to the Chaldeans, lest they hand me over to them and they mistreat me.”

20Jeremiah said, “They will not hand you over. Please listen to the voice of Yahweh in what I am speaking to you, so that it may go well with you and your life may be spared.”

21But if you refuse to go out, this is the word that Yahweh has shown me:

22And behold, all the women who remain in the house of the king of Judah are being brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon, and they are saying, ‘The men at peace with you have misled you and overcome you; your feet have sunk into the mud; they have turned back.’

23And all your wives and your sons will be brought out to the Chaldeans, and you yourself will not escape from their hand, for you will be seized by the hand of the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned with fire.