² “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Go and speak to ^(A)Zedekiah king of Judah and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(B)Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.

¹⁰ For ^(A)I have set my face against this city for harm and ^(B)not for good, declares the Lord: ^(C)it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.’

²² Behold, ^(A)I will command, declares the Lord, and will ^(B)bring them back to this city. ^(C)And they will fight against it and take it and burn it with fire. ^(D)I will make the cities of Judah a desolation ^(E)without inhabitant.”

⁸ And ^(A)the Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city. ^(B)They shall capture it and burn it with fire. ⁹ Thus says the Lord, Do not deceive yourselves, saying, “The Chaldeans will surely go away from us,” for they will not go away. ^10 (C)For even if you should defeat the whole army of Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and there remained of them only wounded men, every man in his tent, they would rise up and ^(D)burn this city with fire.’”

³ For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(A)Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it;

22 Thus says the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word, ² and say, ^(A)‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates.

^11 (A)Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. ¹² He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. He did not humble himself before ^(B)Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the Lord.

^8 (A)The Chaldeans burned the king's house and the house of the people, ^(B)and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.

²³ All your wives and ^(A)your sons shall be led out to the Chaldeans, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand, but shall be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city shall be burned with fire.”

Jeremiah Warns Zedekiah

37 ^(A)Zedekiah the son of Josiah, ^(B)whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah, reigned instead of ^(C)Coniah the son of Jehoiakim. ^2 (D)But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the Lord that he spoke through Jeremiah the prophet.