21But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the LORD has shown me. 22All the women who are left in the palace of Judah's king will be brought out to the officers of the king of Babylon. These women will say: 'Your trusted friends have misled you and used you. Your feet are stuck in the mud, and your friends have deserted you.' 23"All your wives and children will be brought to the Babylonians. You will not escape from them. You will be captured by the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned down." 24Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "Don't let anyone know about this conversation, or you will die. 25The officials may find out that I've been talking with you. They may come to you and say, 'Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you. Don't hide anything from us, or we'll kill you.' 26If they come to you, say to them, 'I asked the king not to send me back to Jonathan's house to die there.'" 27All the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him. He told them exactly what the king had told him to say. So they stopped questioning him, because they hadn't heard his conversation with the king. 28Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the prison until the day Jerusalem was captured.
| 
