¹⁹ King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have defected to the Chaldeans. The Chaldeans may turn me over to them, and they will torture me.”

²⁰ But Jeremiah said, “They will not turn you over to them. Please obey the Lord by doing what I tell you. It will go well with you, and your life will be spared. ²¹ But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has revealed to me. ²² All the women who are left in the palace of the king of Judah will certainly be brought out to the officials of the Babylonian king. Those women will say to you, ‘Those trusted friends of yours misled you and led you to defeat. Your feet have sunk down into the mud, and they all have deserted you.’ ²³ They will bring all your wives and children to the Chaldeans. You yourself will not escape their grasp. You will be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned down.”