1. The word which came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashhur the son of Malchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Mahseiah the priest, saying,
2. Inquire, I pray you, of the LORD for us; for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon makes war against us; if so be that the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he may go up from us.
3. Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall you say to Zedekiah:
4. Thus says the LORD God of Israel;
5. And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath.
6. And I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence.
7. And afterward,
8. And unto this people you shall say,
9. He that abides in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goes out, and falls to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prize.
10. For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good,