^28 (A)Plead with the Lord, for there has been enough of God’s ^[a]thunder and hail; and ^(B)I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer.”

³ Yet ^(A)King Zedekiah sent Jehucal the son of Shelemiah, and ^(B)the priest Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “^(C)Please pray to the Lord our God in our behalf.”

¹⁷ Now King Zedekiah sent men and took him out; and in his palace the king ^(A)secretly asked him and said, “Is there a ^(B)word from the Lord?” And Jeremiah said, “There is!” Then he said, “You will be ^(C)handed over to the king of Babylon!”

⁷ For anyone of the house of Israel, or of the ^(A)strangers who reside in Israel, who deserts Me, sets up his idols in his heart, puts in front of his face the stumbling block of his wrongdoing, and then comes to the prophet to request something of Me for himself, ^(B)I the Lord will let Myself answer him Myself.

God’s Dealings with Israel Rehearsed

20 Now in the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth of the month, men from the ^(A)elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord, and they sat before me. ² Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ³ “Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord ^[a]God says: “Do you yourselves come to inquire of Me? As I live,” declares the Lord God, “^(B)I certainly will not be inquired of by you.”’