18. And if thou dost not go forth unto the heads of the king of Babylon, then hath this city been given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they have burnt it with fire, and thou dost not escape from their hand.'
19. And the king Zedekiah saith unto Jeremiah, `I am fearing the Jews who have fallen unto the Chaldeans, lest they give me into their hand, and they have insulted me.'
20. And Jeremiah saith, `They do not give thee up; hearken, I pray thee, to the voice of Jehovah, to that which I am speaking unto thee, and it is well for thee, and thy soul doth live.
21. `And if thou art refusing to go forth, this [is] the thing that Jehovah hath shewn me:
22. That, lo, all the women who have been left in the house of the king of Judah are brought forth unto the heads of the king of Babylon, and lo, they are saying: Persuaded thee, and prevailed against thee, Have thine allies, Sunk into mire have thy feet, They have been turned backward.
23. `And all thy wives, and thy sons, are brought forth unto the Chaldeans, and thou dost not escape from their hand, for by the hand of the king of Babylon thou art caught, and this city is burnt with fire.'
24. And Zedekiah saith unto Jeremiah, `Let no man know of these words, and thou dost not die;
25. and when the heads hear that I have spoken with thee, and they have come in unto thee, and have said unto thee, Declare to us, we pray thee, what thou didst speak unto the king, do not hide [it] from us, and we do not put thee to death, and what the king spake unto thee,
26. then thou hast said unto them, I am causing my supplication to fall before the king, not to cause me to return to the house of Jonathan, to die there.'
27. And all the heads come in unto Jeremiah, and ask him, and he declareth to them according to all these words that the king commanded, and they keep silent from him, for the matter was not heard;
28. and Jeremiah dwelleth in the court of the prison till the day that Jerusalem hath been captured, and he was [there] when Jerusalem was captured.