Jeremiah 38:14-28

Then King Zedekiah sent and had 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 ask you something; hide nothing from me.” Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, will you not certainly put me to death? Even if I do give you advice, you will not listen to me.” But King Zedekiah swore secretly to Jeremiah, “As the LORD lives, who made our lives, be assured that I will not put you to death or put you into the hand of these men who are seeking your life.” Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘If you will go out and surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then you will live and this city will not be burned with fire; and you and your household will live. But if you will not go out to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city will be given into the hand of the Chaldeans [of Babylon] and they will set it on fire; and you yourself will not escape from their hand.’ ” Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews [my former subjects] who have deserted to join the Chaldeans, for the enemy may put me into their hand and they will mock me and abuse me.” But Jeremiah said, “They will not hand you over [to them]. Please obey [the voice of] the LORD [who speaks to you through me] in what I am saying to you. Then it will go well with you and you will live. But if you keep refusing to go out and surrender to them, this is the word [and the vision] which the LORD has shown me: ‘Then behold, all the women who are left in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officers of the king of Babylon and those women will say [to you, King Zedekiah], “Your close friends Have prevailed against your better judgment and have overpowered and deceived you; While your feet were sunk in the mire [of trouble], They turned back.” Also, all your wives and your children will be brought out to the Chaldeans; and you yourself will not escape from their hand, but you will be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city [Jerusalem] will be burned down with fire.’ ” Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no man know about this conversation and you will not die. But if the princes (court officials) hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say, ‘Tell us now what you said to the king and what he said to you; do not hide it from us and we will not execute you,’ then you are to say to them, ‘I was presenting my [humble] petition and plea to the king so that he would not send me back to Jonathan’s house to die there.’ ” Then all the princes (court officials) came to Jeremiah and asked him [just what King Zedekiah had anticipated they would ask], and he reported to them in accordance with all that the king had commanded. So they stopped questioning him, since the conversation [with the king] had not been overheard. So Jeremiah remained in the court of the guardhouse until the day that Jerusalem was captured [by the Chaldeans of Babylon].