Jeremiah 38:13-28

13So they pulled Jeremiah out with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern, and Jeremiah stayed in the 1courtyard of the guardhouse.

14Then King Zedekiah 2sent word and 3had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance that is in the house of the Lord; and the king said to Jeremiah, “I am going to 4ask you something; do not hide anything from me.” 15And Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “5If I tell you, will you not certainly put me to death? Besides, if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.” 16But King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah in 6secret, saying, “As the Lord lives, who made this 78life for us, I certainly will not put you to death, nor will I hand you over to 9these men who are seeking your 10life.”

17So Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord 11God of armies, the 12God of Israel says: ‘If you will indeed 13surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then 14you will live, this city will not be burned with fire, and you and your household will 15survive. 18But if you do 16not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city 17will be handed over to the Chaldeans; and they will burn it with fire, and 18you yourself will not escape from their hands.’” 19Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am 19in fear of the Jews who have 20deserted to the Chaldeans, for they may hand me over to them, and they will 21abuse me.” 20But Jeremiah said, “They will not turn you over. Please 2223obey the Lord in what I am saying to you, so that it may go 24well for you and 2526you may live. 21But if you keep refusing to surrender, this is the word which the Lord has shown me: 22‘Behold, all of the 27women who have been left in the palace of the king of Judah are going to be brought out to the officers of the king of Babylon; and those women will say, “28Your close friends Have misled and overpowered you; While your feet were sunk in the mire, They turned back.” 23They are also going to bring out all your wives and your 29sons to the Chaldeans, and 30you yourself will not escape from their hand, but will be seized by the hand of the king of Babylon, and 31this city will be burned with fire.’”

24Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know about these words, and you will not die. 25But if the 32officials hear that I have talked with you and come to you and say to you, ‘Tell us now what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us and we will not put you to death,’ 26then you are to say to them, ‘I was 33presenting my plea before the king, not to make me return to the house of Jonathan to die there.’” 27Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him. So he reported to them in accordance with all these words which the king had commanded; and they stopped speaking with him, since the 34conversation had not been overheard. 28So Jeremiah 35stayed in the courtyard of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was captured.