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19 Then King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Babylonians.[a] The Babylonians might hand me over to them and they will torture me.”[b] 20 Then Jeremiah answered, “You will not be handed over to them. Please obey the Lord by doing what I have been telling you.[c] Then all will go well with you and your life will be spared.[d] 21 But if you refuse to surrender, the Lord has shown me a vision of what will happen. Here is what I saw:

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 38:19 tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.
  2. Jeremiah 38:19 tn Or “and they will badly abuse me.” For the usage of this verb in the situation presupposed, see Judg 19:25 and 1 Sam 31:4.
  3. Jeremiah 38:20 tn Heb “Please listen to the voice of the Lord with regard to what I have been telling you.” For the idiom “listen to the voice” = “obey,” see BDB 1034 s.v. שָׁמַע 1.m. Obedience here is expressed by following the advice in the qualifying clause, i.e., “what I have been telling you.”
  4. Jeremiah 38:20 tn Heb “your life [or you yourself] will live.” Cf. v. 17 and the translator’s note there for the idiom.

19 King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid(A) of the Jews who have gone over(B) to the Babylonians, for the Babylonians may hand me over to them and they will mistreat me.”

20 “They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey(C) the Lord by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well(D) with you, and your life(E) will be spared. 21 But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has revealed to me:

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