21. But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has shown me:
22. All the women left in the palace of the king of Judah will be led out to the officers of the king of Babylon. And they will say:‘Your trusted friends have betrayed you;they have deceived you;now that your feet are stuck in the mud,they are nowhere to be found.’
23. "All your wives and children will be led out to the Babylonians, and you yourself won’t escape from them. The king of Babylon will capture you, and this city will be burned down."
24. Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "No one is to know about these matters or else you will die.
25. If the officials find out that we met, and they come and say to you, ‘Tell us what you said to the king. Don’t hide anything from us; otherwise, we’ll kill you. So what did the king say to you?’
26. you should say to them, ‘I was begging the king not to send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.’"
27. Then all the officials approached Jeremiah to question him. And he responded exactly as the king had instructed him. So they stopped interrogating him because the conversation between the king and Jeremiah hadn’t been overheard.
28. Jeremiah remained in the prison quarters until Jerusalem was captured.