¹⁷ Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the Babylonian officers, you and your family will live, and the city will not be burned down.

² “This is what the Lord says: ‘Everyone who stays in Jerusalem will die from war, famine, or disease, but those who surrender to the Babylonians^[a] will live. Their reward will be life. They will live!’

¹² Then I repeated this same message to King Zedekiah of Judah. “If you want to live, submit to the yoke of the king of Babylon and his people.

³ All the officers of the Babylonian army came in and sat in triumph at the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer of Samgar, and Nebo-sarsekim,^[a] a chief officer, and Nergal-sharezer, the king’s adviser, and all the other officers of the king of Babylon.

¹⁷ Do not listen to them. Surrender to the king of Babylon, and you will live. Why should this whole city be destroyed?

⁸ “Tell all the people, ‘This is what the Lord says: Take your choice of life or death! ⁹ Everyone who stays in Jerusalem will die from war, famine, or disease, but those who go out and surrender to the Babylonians will live. Their reward will be life! ¹⁰ For I have decided to bring disaster and not good upon this city, says the Lord. It will be handed over to the king of Babylon, and he will reduce it to ashes.’

²⁷ So I will send you into exile, to a land east of Damascus,^[a]” says the Lord, whose name is the God of Heaven’s Armies.

⁶ only if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; only if you stop your murdering; and only if you stop harming yourselves by worshiping idols. ⁷ Then I will let you stay in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep forever.