Jeremiah 38:16-18

International Standard Version

¹⁶ Then King Zedekiah, in secret, swore an oath to Jeremiah: “As surely as the Lord lives, who gave us this life to live, I won’t have you put to death, nor will I hand you over to these men who are seeking to kill you.”

¹⁷ So Jeremiah told Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord God of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you will immediately surrender^[a] to the officers^[b] of the king of Babylon, then you will live, and this city won’t be burned with fire. Both you and your family will live. ¹⁸ But if you don’t surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city will be given to the Chaldeans, and they’ll burn it with fire. You won’t escape from their hands.’”