¹⁷ Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender^(A) to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned down; you and your family will live.^{(B) 18} But if you will not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be given into the hands^(C) of the Babylonians and they will burn^(D) it down; you yourself will not escape^(E) from them.’”

¹⁹ King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid^(F) of the Jews who have gone over^(G) to the Babylonians, for the Babylonians may hand me over to them and they will mistreat me.”

²¹ “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem my four dreadful judgments^(A)—sword^(B) and famine^(C) and wild beasts and plague^(D)—to kill its men and their animals!^(E)

¹⁹ “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, I will repay him for despising my oath and breaking my covenant.^{(A) 20} I will spread my net^(B) for him, and he will be caught in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon and execute judgment^(C) on him there because he was unfaithful^(D) to me. ²¹ All his choice troops will fall by the sword,^(E) and the survivors^(F) will be scattered to the winds.^(G) Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken.^(H)