8. Then the Babylonians will return and attack Jerusalem, and this time they will capture the city and set it on fire.
9. Don't fool yourselves into thinking that the Babylonians will leave as they did before.
10. Even if you could defeat their entire army, their wounded survivors would still be able to leave their tents and set Jerusalem on fire.
11. The Babylonian army had left because the Egyptian army was on its way to help us.
12. So I decided to leave Jerusalem and go to the territory of the Benjamin tribe to claim my share of my family's land.
13. I was leaving Jerusalem through Benjamin Gate, when I was stopped by Irijah, the officer in charge of the soldiers at the gate. He said, “Jeremiah, you're under arrest for trying to join the Babylonians.”
14. “I'm not trying to join them!” I answered. But Irijah wouldn't listen, and he took me to the king's officials.
15-16. They were angry and ordered the soldiers to beat me. Then I was taken to the house that belonged to Jonathan, one of the king's officials. It had been turned into a prison, and I was kept in a basement room.After I had spent a long time there,
17. King Zedekiah secretly had me brought to his palace, where he asked, “Is there any message for us from the Lord?”“Yes, there is, Your Majesty,” I replied. “The Lord is going to let the king of Babylonia capture you.”
18. Then I continued, “Your Majesty, why have you put me in prison? Have I committed a crime against you or your officials or the nation?
19. Have you locked up the prophets who lied to you and said that the king of Babylonia would never attack Jerusalem?