16. So King Zedekiah secretly swore an oath to Jeremiah, “The Lord gave us life. As the Lord lives, I will not kill you or hand you over to these men who want to kill you.”
17. Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, you will live, and this city will not be burned. You and your household will live.
18. But if you don’t surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be handed over to the Babylonians. They will burn it down, and you will not escape from them.”
19. King Zedekiah answered Jeremiah, “I’m afraid of the Jews who have deserted to the Babylonians. The Babylonians may hand me over to them, and they will torture me.”
20. Jeremiah said, “You will not be handed over to them. Obey the Lord by doing what I’m telling you. Then everything will go well for you, and you will live.
21. But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has shown me.
22. All the women who are left in the palace of Judah’s king will be brought out to the officers of the king of Babylon. These women will say:‘Your trusted friends have misled you and used you.Your feet are stuck in the mud, and your friends have deserted you.’
23. “All your wives and children will be brought to the Babylonians. You will not escape from them. You will be captured by the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned down.”
24. Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Don’t let anyone know about this conversation, or you will die.
25. The officials may find out that I’ve been talking with you. They may come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you. Don’t hide anything from us, or we’ll kill you.’
26. If they come to you, say to them, ‘I asked the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house to die there.’ ”