15. Jeremiah replied, "If I do, you’ll kill me! And if I tell you what to do, you won’t listen to me!"
16. So King Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah behind closed doors, "As the Lord lives, who has given us this life, I won’t put you to death and I won’t hand you over to those who seek to kill you."
17. So Jeremiah said to Zedekiah: "The Lord of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, proclaims: If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, you and your family will live, and this city will not be burned down.
18. If you don’t surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, the city will be handed over to the Babylonians, who will burn it down, and you won’t escape from them."
19. King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "I’m afraid that I will fall into the hands of the Judeans who have defected to the Babylonians, and they will torture me."
20. "That won’t happen," Jeremiah replied, “if you obey the Lord, whose message I bring. You will survive, and all will go well for you.
21. But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has shown me: