Jeremiah 38:14-23

14One day, King Zedekiah sent some men to bring Jeremiah to meet with him. They met at the third gate of the Lord's temple. The king said to Jeremiah, ‘I would like to ask you a question. Do not hide anything from me.’

15Jeremiah said to the king, ‘If I give you a true answer, you will surely kill me. If I give you advice, you will not agree.’

16But King Zedekiah made a serious promise to Jeremiah. Nobody else knew about it. He said, ‘I promise you that this is true, as surely as the Lord lives. I promise that I will not kill you. And I will not give you to the men who want to kill you.’

17Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, ‘The Lord Almighty, Israel's God, says, “You must put yourself under the power of the king of Babylon's officers. If you do that, you will not die. Your enemies will not burn down this city. You and your family will continue to live.

18But if you do not agree to be under their power, they will take this city for themselves. They will burn it down. You yourself will become their prisoner.” ’

19King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, ‘I am afraid to do that. Some of Judah's people have gone out of the city to help Babylon's army. Babylon's officers might give me to them and they will be very cruel to me.’

20Jeremiah answered the king, ‘They will not give you to those people of Judah. Obey the Lord and do as I tell you. Then you will continue to enjoy your life.

21But if you refuse to put yourself under the power of the enemy, a terrible thing will happen to you. The Lord has shown me this in a vision.

22The enemy's soldiers will bring out all the women in the palace of Judah's king. They will give those women to the king of Babylon's officers. The women will say to you, “Your friends that you trusted to help you have deceived you. They have won against you. Your feet are now deep in the mud and you cannot move. So your friends have gone away and left you.”

23Babylon's soldiers will take all your wives and your children for themselves. You yourself will not escape from them. The king of Babylon will take hold of you as his prisoner. His soldiers will burn down this city.’