23. All your wives and children will be led out to the Babylonians, and you will not escape. You will be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned down.”
24. Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Don’t tell anyone you told me this, or you will die!
25. My officials may hear that I spoke to you, and they may say, ‘Tell us what you and the king were talking about. If you don’t tell us, we will kill you.’
26. If this happens, just tell them you begged me not to send you back to Jonathan’s dungeon, for fear you would die there.”
27. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before the king’s officials came to Jeremiah and asked him why the king had called for him. But Jeremiah followed the king’s instructions, and they left without finding out the truth. No one had overheard the conversation between Jeremiah and the king.
28. And Jeremiah remained a prisoner in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.