20. But Jeremiah answered, “The Babylonians will not hand you over to the Jews. Obey the Lord by doing what I tell you. Then things will go well for you, and your life will be saved.
21. But if you refuse to surrender to the Babylonians, the Lord has shown me what will happen.
22. All the women left in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out and taken to the important officers of the king of Babylon. Your women will make fun of you with this song:‘Your good friends misled youand were stronger than you.While your feet were stuck in the mud,they left you.’
23. “All your wives and children will be brought out and given to the Babylonian army. You yourself will not even escape from them. You will be taken prisoner by the king of Babylon, and Jerusalem will be burned down.”
24. Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Do not tell anyone that I have been talking to you, or you will die.
25. If the officers find out I talked to you, they will come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to King Zedekiah and what he said to you. Don’t keep any secrets from us. If you don’t tell us everything, we will kill you.’
26. If they ask you, tell them, ‘I was begging the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house to die.’ ”
27. All the officers did come to question Jeremiah. So he told them everything the king had ordered him to say. Then the officers said no more to Jeremiah, because no one had heard what Jeremiah and the king had discussed.
28. So Jeremiah stayed under guard in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.