²⁴ Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know about these words, and you will not die. ²⁵ But if the ^(A)officials hear that I have talked with you and come to you and say to you, ‘Tell us now what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us and we will not put you to death,’ ²⁶ then you are to say to them, ‘I was ^(B)presenting my plea before the king, not to make me return to the house of Jonathan to die there.’” ²⁷ Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him. So he reported to them in accordance with all these words which the king had commanded; and they stopped speaking with him, since the ^[a]conversation had not been overheard.