serve.

Jeremiah 27:11, 12
But the nation that will put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave it in its own land, to cultivate it and reside in it, declares the LORD." . . .

wherefore.

Jeremiah 27:13
Why should you and your people die by the sword, famine, and plague, as the LORD has decreed against any nation that does not serve the king of Babylon?

Jeremiah 38:17, 23
Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "This is what the LORD, the God of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: 'If you indeed surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then you will live, this city will not be burned down, and you and your household will survive. . . .