⁵ King Zedekiah said, “Here he is; he is in your hands, for the king is powerless against you.”^(A)

Zedekiah Consults Jeremiah Again

¹⁴ King Zedekiah sent for the prophet Jeremiah and received him at the third entrance of the temple of the Lord. The king said to Jeremiah, “I have something to ask you; do not hide anything from me.”^{(A) 15} Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, you will put me to death, will you not? And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.”^{(B) 16} So King Zedekiah swore an oath in secret to Jeremiah, “As the Lord lives, who gave us our lives, I will not put you to death or hand you over to these men who seek your life.”^(C)

²⁴ Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone else know of this conversation, or you will die. ²⁵ If the officials should hear that I have spoken with you and come and say to you, ‘Just tell us what you said to the king; do not conceal it from us, or we will put you to death. What did the king say to you?’^{(A) 26} then you shall say to them, ‘I was presenting my plea to the king not to send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.’ ”^{(B) 27} All the officials did come to Jeremiah and questioned him, and he answered them in the very words the king had commanded. So they stopped questioning him, for the conversation had not been overheard.^(C)